Animorphs: Redemption
by shadowrunner5425
Summary: Tellion 7854 was just another low ranking Yeerk in the seemingly endless war against the Andalites. Then, through a strange twist of fate, or perhaps something greater, she was given the chance to become something else. Something no Yeerk had ever been before.
1. Chapter 1

Tellion 7854 checked the PH balance of the metallic liquid samples of her inspection kit one last time before securing them inside her tool pouch as she squatted at the edge of the vast underground lake. Taking her small computation device in her lower set of arms, she made sure that all the readings for the Yeerk pool's stability were running efficiently before stepping away from the edge of the vast breeding ground/natural home of her kin.

It wasn't well known, even among her fellow Yeerks, that the pools required constant maintenance and care. Any slight alteration to either the temperature or composition of the necessary liquids that her people required in order to properly absorb the Kandrona rays, and the pool would become completely uninhabitable. Such a thing would lead to the deaths of every single Yeerk currently existing planet side. And failure of that magnitude not be tolerated. Not by any Visser. Especially, Tellion shuddered involuntarily through her host body, Visser Three.

The very thought of her supreme commander filled Tellion with absolute dread. A dread that she felt even in her natural form, not just her host body. Of all the Vissers within the Empire, Visser Three was the single most commander that all Yeerks feared to be assigned to. Tellion had heard the terrifying tales of the only Andalite controller's ruthlessness, of his willingness to execute his subordinates for even the most miniscule failiure.

It was this very fear of his wrath that had propelled her into the support division of the Imperial forces. Maintaining the Yeerk pool, and routine maintenance of the smaller, more portable Kandrona rays, were essential tasks within the confines of the Yeerk Empire, yet kept her out of the ever watchful eyes of the invasion's leading commanders.

Like all Yeerks of her generation, Tellion had been born in the sterile conditions of the massive pool ship that had orbited the planet that she was now existing on, and the one she was helping, in her own little way, to enslave. In truth, Tellion had no true gender, so it should have been strange that she saw herself as a she. But all of her hosts had been females, so that was how she had naturally come to see her own self as. Back then, like all newborn Yeerks, she had living a completely simple existence of swimming in the fluids of a Yeerk pool and absorbing Kandrona rays.

Until the day she had been selected for training.

Tellion's first host, like most newborn and low ranking Yeerks, had been a Gedd. The little three limbed primates of her native homeworld held little intelligence beyond the capacity of the primates of this world that she now live on. Just being exposed to the impossible experience of sight, sound, and free movement had opened Tellion's entire existence to a new possibility of being.

After that brief moment of greater being, Tellion had her destiny set. She would do what she could to become a permanent 'controller', and be given that gift of higher existance once again. So she had done everything that she could to prove her value to the Empire. It had taken a while, for how long she wasn't sure. Time was of no true meaning to her when she had been in that blind and deaf state. But her devotion had eventually paid off. Tellion fondly remembered the day she had been told through impulse reception of her sense receptors that she had finally been assigned a permanent host. It had been nothing more than just an older and frail female Gedd, but it was enough to give Tellion an experience of something more than what she had always been in her natural body.

Her first tasks had been miniscule and dreary, like all low ranking Yeerks. As a Gedd controller, she had works in the recesses of the pool ship orbiting the planets, cleaning out waste pipes and sterilizing other filth ridden areas. Yet, Tellion had applied herself to the tasks without complaint, instead using her chosen tasks as examples to her superiors of the seriousness of her commitment to rise higher in the ranks. In the times that she wasn't performing her tasks or having to leave her host to absorb Kandrona rays, she had spent her time studying.

Through the multitude of countless archives Tellion had learned the history of her people, and how they had come to be what they were. She learned of the time that the Andalites had first come to her home world generations ago, with promises of peace and greater existence for all beings. Of how they had wooed her people with lies of granting them the ability to reach far beyond their world, and travel the stars like they did.

And it was only through the great insight and brilliance of the great Yeerk hero, Akdor 1154, that the treacherous Andalite plot had been revealed to her people.

The Andalites didn't truly desire to help the Yeerks, they had only planned on using them as a force of slave labor to mine the vast precious minerals that had laid below the surface of her home world. Only Akdor alone had been able to discover this plot, and save her people from such a cruel fate. It was he that had managed to gather together a small force of freedom fighters and had been able to commander a small fleet of ships from the devious Andalites, and with that small fleet, flee their home world with a small number of her people before the Andalites brought the full might of their enslaving hands over her primitive world.

She learned of how they had first taken the Hork-Bajir home world, bringing a primitive species up from nothing and giving them a greater purpose. To help the Yeerks have a mass of host bodies that would give them a fighting edge against the Andalites own natural tail bladed bodies. Then had come Garad, then the Ssstram, then the Taxxons. Even the Mak and, as Tellion had learned, her own current host body, a Nahara named Tallaxia.

All had been brought into the fold of the Yeerk Empire. All previous divisions and hatreds of all those beings had been erased by the unifying light of the Yeerks. Through the Yeerks, all of these beings had found true peace and unity upon their worlds. And such was the desire of the Yeerks, as Tellion had been told, to bring peace and unity among all beings of the galaxy. No division, no hatred, no war, all to be unified as one among the Empire. And Tellion had believed all of that. Until the time she had proven herself to be worthy of a higher host.

Tellion had never been like others of her kind. She sought no desire to use deception and cruelty to advance her ranks. Nor had she desired to join the front lines in the war against the Andalites. Even as evil as she had been told that they were, taking the life of another being seemed…not right to her. So she had sought other options, other paths to advance herself without having to resort to violence and killing. Kandrona rays were absolutely vital to the survival of her people, and generators that produced the life sustaining radiation to her kind were in increasingly high demand. So Kandrona ray generators and Yeerk pool maintenance had seemed like the proper choice for Tellion. It allowed her to advance herself, yet stay as far away from the fighting and bloodshed as was physically possible. And…making an effort to sustain life in an existence of nearly constant pain and suffering seemed, well, noble to Tellion. It made her feel as if she were doing something good with her life.

Still, her hard won efforts had proven successful when the day she had been told that she would be advancing up from the body of her ailing Gedd host and into a Nahara.

The Nahara were not completely useless as hosts. They were bipedal, but lacked strong upper appendages like so many other higher sentient beings. Nahara had elongated skulls, with three pairs of eyes, each capable of full range rotation independent of all the others. Nahara had two very short, thick legs that made any movement slow and cumbersome. Naharas also had four long, very thin arms. Each of those arms ended with a dozen small tendrils that they themselves expanded out into hundreds of even smaller ones that were ideal for working in tiny, tightly compact spaces for the kinds of machines that Tellion would be expected to work on. While reasonably mobile, Nahara were neither fast nor agile enough to be suited for any form of combat. The Nahara, like many other of the species folded into the Yeerk Empire, were regulated to Yeerks to perform a singular task, specifically for Yeerks that worked in the maintenance and engineering divisions of the Yeerk society.

Tellion had been so excited the day she had been informed of the assuming of her new host. Until, that was, after she crawled into the ear canal of her new host and embedded herself into the Nahara's brain. As her thousands of control tendrils along the entire underside of her physical body wove their way across the folds of her host's brain and embedded themselves into the deep recesses of this new mind and merged with her own electrical branches of her nervous system, Tellion's existence was transformed forever.

The very first thing Tellion ever remembered of that moment was the anguished screams.

Cries of such immense fear and suffering that those emotions raced up from her host's mind, through her thousands of control tendrils, and into Tellion herself. It was unlike anything that Tellion had ever experienced, and she didn't care for it at all. It left her completely shocked from the experiences. She felt all of that agony as if she was feeling it herself. And once she had left her new host, Tellion had been scared with a permanent sadness within the core of her very being.

She had been warned by other Yeerks, those that had already long been controllers and had dealt with situations like this, about the difference between hosting a Gedd and other, more complex beings such a Nahara. But nothing could have prepared Tellion for what she was facing.

Other Yeerks she communicated with after her first test of her new host told her that it was impossible for a Yeerk to truly feel a host's emotional sensations, their control tendrils only could receive physical electrical impulses. Emotions, whatever they truly were, was the only thing that a Yeerk's host truly had to themselves. Any emotional response that Yeerks displayed or felt were entirely from themselves. But this was not true for Tellion. When she accessed Tallaxia's memories, or when Tallaxia chose to make her presence known, Tellion always felt her hosts' sorrow flowing into herself. Every moment that she was bonded to Tallaxia. It was…taxing to her.

More than anything, Tellion wanted nothing more than to be rid of this suffering and turmoil. But she didn't know how to make this happen. She had tried several times to figure out where the emotional responses of the brain were coming from. Each time she felt the anger and hatred from Tallaxia, Tellion had retreated her control tentacles from various sections of her host's brain in a vain effort to ride herself of those agonizing feelings. But each time, no matter what part of Tallaxia's brain she relinquished control of, Tellion would still be subjected to those painful emotions. There were a full part of her entire cerebral functions, and there was no escaping them for Tellion.

Thinking of those cries, Tellion's hearing receptors detected screams coming from not far from where she was squatting at the pool's edge. Tellion twisted 'her' elongated head towards the cries. Not far away was the infestation pier, and a reasonably younger native, Tellion guessed was female - she still had trouble being able to determine the difference in native genders- was being dragged to the end by a pair of exceptionally large Hork-Bajir controllers.

"No! No! No!" she screeched wildly as she thrashed about in their strong grips. Even with the distance that they were at, Tellion could still see the fear in her alien face. "Please…don't do this! Don't put that THING back in me!"

Her cries went unheeded. The two controllers forced the native to her knees and one grasped the back of her head. Tellion could see fluid seeping from her eyes, something she had been told by native controllers was a sign of extreme sadness or distress. Tellion couldn't begin to imagine the fear that must have been going through the young native in that final moment before reinfestation.

"Please God, help me!" she screeched as her head was forcibly lowered to the slick metallic surface of the pool. "Help me! Help…"

Her head was jammed under the surface and she thrashed about wildly as a torrent of bubbles formulated around her submerged head. Tellion turned away instantly, unable to bring herself to watch the terrible sight.

Why are you looking away? Tallaxia whispered to Tellion from the far corner of the brain where she always resided whenever Tellion was controlling her. Don't you want to see this?

"You know I can't." Tellion whispered out loud, knowing full well that only Tallaxia could hear her.

Why?! Tellaxia growled, the anger vibrating up through Tellion's control tendrils and up into herself. You know why you can't? Because this is what happens to me…every time just before you crawl up into my brain and take over my body. That's how I scream before they jam my head under the surface. And then you come swimming along to steal what's rightfully mine.

"I…" Tellion began, her voice faltering at the thoughts of what Tallaxia endured before being infested by her every three days, and the freedom that she continually snatched away. "I'm sorry."

You're not sorry! Tallaxia roared back at Tellion. If you were, you wouldn't keep crawling back inside of me! You wouldn't keep making me a prisoner inside my own body, the body that you stole from me! I hate you slug! I'll hate all of you foul abominations!

Tallaxia didn't let up. She continued to howl her cries of absolute anger, and deeply held hatred for Yeerks. And…for Tellion. Of all the emotions Tellion experienced from Tallaxia, it was her hatred for Tellion that always proved to be the absolute worst experience that she had to endure. It was an all-consuming force of pure malice, and every last bit of those dark emotions directed at Tellion. Emotions that Tellion wearily accepted were well earned on her part. And Tallaxia's cries had only become that much worse in the last few days.

When the Andalites finally came.

Tellion remembered the moment the Yeerk Pool's emergency sirens exploded throughout the vast underground complex clearly. An Andalite Dome ship, the most powerful vessel within the Andalite space faring fleet, had warped into space not far from the outer orbit of the planet's sole celestial orbiting body. And the Yeerk Empire had nothing in their own arsenal that could match such a vastly powerful ship in a head on battle.

The only vessels that Tellion's own people had at their disposal in orbit around the planet was the Pool ship, a vast carrier/mobile command ship that didn't have a hope of lasting more than a few minute against an Andalite Dome ship; and Visser Three's own personal Blade ship. While a very powerful ship from what she had been told, it was still no match for a Dome ship in a straight up battle.

Having spent time on the Pool Ship in her prior Gedd host, Tellion knew that they would likely be launching their entire complement of interceptors, nearly a hundred strong from what she could remember. Their only hope for survival in this battle was that their own fighters could overwhelm the Dome Ship's defending fighter contingent, which wasn't nearly as great as the Pool Ship's, and swarm the vessel. Dome Ships, she had researched, had massive Shredder cannons that were not well suited for engaging the smaller, much harder to hit fighters. Not that they needed to be. From what Tellion had been told by other Yeerks that had piloted the Empire's interceptors, Andalite fighter pilots were immensely deadly, and could extract an extreme toll on her own side before being destroyed.

Tellion knew little of the details of any space battle between the Empire and Andalite forces, only those that her side had prevailed in. But the few scraps of information she had been able to analyze had said that any victory of Yeerk forces over the Andalites in direct space combat had been achieved at staggering cost to their own forces.

Then, the long range scouts had echoed out the cry that had struck terror into the very core of every Yeerk in the invasion force that heard it, even Tellion herself.

"It's the Galaxy Tree! It's the Galaxy Tree!" the shout over the long range transmission from the scout ship had cried before going suddenly silent.

The Galaxy Tree, Tellion had shuddered.

'His' Dome Ship.

The Andalites had never made any attempt to keep secret the very vessel that 'He' served on. They knew the effect it had on any Yeerk forces that faced that vessel. The very name always embodied the truest manifestation of fear in every Yeerk that knew of 'Him', which was every member of the whole Empire.

Elfangor.

The great Yeerk Bane.

Tellion knew little of the famous, or dreaded – depending on whose side you were on - Andalite War Prince. Only that he was personally responsible for causing the defeat of Imperial forces on over a dozen engagements, and he was rumored to have shredded well over a hundred of her own side's interceptors.

Tallaxia had known of Elfangor through Tellion's own experiences of researching her enemy's capabilities. And she hadn't been shy of making her hopes known to Tellion when the reports of Galaxy Tree's engagement of the Pool Ships interceptor wing began to filter in, and several interceptors had already been Shredded without the loss of a single Andalite fighter.

I hope they Shred your fleet. Tallaxia had growled in the far corner of the mind she always resided in. I hope Elfangor personally obliterates your Pool Ship. I hope the Andalites destroy your planet side Kandrona Ray generator too, so that you all die of Kandrona starvation!

Tellion had said nothing to Tallaxia as her host brimmed with a sudden surge of desire that had consumed her. A desire she made no hesitation to make known to Tellion.

My only hope you slug. Tallaxia snarled. Is that you live just long enough to feel me rip you from my head, then suffer that agony of being ripped to pieces by my tentacles. That is my one true hope now.

Tellion had tried her best to block out the sensations that Tallaxia was feeling, but it was impossible for her. For the first time since their first bonding, Tellion felt something else from Tallaxia other than anger and hatred. It was hope.

Hope to be free once again. To not be a prisoner in her own body. It was a sense of joy and happiness that Tallaxia felt, something that for the first time in her known existence, Tellion was able to experience that was good since taking over Tallaxia's body. Secretly, against everything that Tellion had been told for her entire existence, she was glad to revel in that moment of pure joy. It made her wonder what real freedom would be like for herself, if such a thing was even remotely possible for a Yeerk. The only thing that kept her from ultimately enjoying it was knowing that that hope would be realized with her own death.

And Tellion feared death. As much as any sentient being should. And she was completely powerless to do anything in that long period of time since the first alarm had been sounded and the reports of her side's forces engaging the Andalites. She hated that feeling. Sensing the encroaching fear of death, and knowing that she was powerless to do anything to save herself. If anything, that was the moment that Tellion felt Tallaxia at her happiest. And she wished it would have happened without the fear of her own extermination.

It felt like forever. Waiting. Listening over the emergency channels as her side engaged the Andelites. Tellion couldn't help but shudder through her Naharan host as the sounds of terrified Hork-Bajir and Taxxon pilots flying the interceptors were blasted apart one by one against the Andalite fighters. She was sure somewhere in that vast vacuum of space, Elfangor was blowing apart her Yeerk pool kin, one fighter at a time.

It was only in the final moment, when Tellion felt in herself that all hope had been lost for her survival that the jubilant cry echoed across the emergency frequencies.

"The Galaxy Tree is destroyed! It's been blasted to atoms! Visser Three ambushed the Andalites and destroyed the Dome Ship! He's closing in now to eliminate the last parts of their miserable fleet!"

Every Yeerk controller in the Pool complex cried out in equally jubilate joy. The thousands of cries of relief reverberated throughout the very foundations of the underground complex. Only Tellion remained silent in that moment of true relief for all Yeerks. Because in that moment, she felt Tallaxia's ultimate cries of absolute despair.

For one single, fleeting moment, Tallaxia had sensed a freedom from her miserable existence was within her grasp. And a moment later, that hope had been taken from her. Tellion hated that feeling of total despair. It…made her feel, lower than anything in possible existence. She was glad to be alive…but only in the most primitive sense of self preservation. Her survival, came at the cost of Tallaxia's continued slavery. Slavery to Tellion.

Tallaxia hadn't said anything for many days since Visser Three had finally returned to the Yeerk Pool, defiantly proclaiming how he had personally killed Elfangor himself. Morphed into a horrific beast and devoured Elfangor, thus ending the last threat of Andalite interference of their invasion plans. Tellion was perhapse one of the few Yeerks to assess the cost of their forces' victory against the Andalites.

Almost sixty interceptors had been Shredded against the Andalites, of which Visser Three claimed only six to be because of the War Prince Elfangor; although Tellion suspected that he may have destroyed many more. Their victory had come at a horrific cost to them. She wondered how many of her own brood brothers and sisters had been lost among those destroyed fighters. Regardless, the Andalite threat was eliminated, and the invasion was set to proceed on schedule. By Visser Three's own estimate, in less than three planetary cycles of this world, the Yeerk Empire would have infested more than half of the planet's population of over five billion, and it would take the Andalite forces almost half that time to discover that they had lost the Galaxy Tree and their champion Elfangor.

By the time the Andalites managed to scrap together another force to engage the Yeerk forces on this front again, if they ever could, it will have been too late.

Tellion was sure that Visser Three had already broadcasted the destruction of the most famous Andalite warrior to the high council. No doubt he was hoping for the possibility to usurp Visser One of her position. Tellion had no real interest in such a pointless power struggle. The overall effects, however, were impossible to ignore.

With such a rich supply of host bodies, it would be of little effort to finally move against the Andalite home world, eradicating the last real threat to the expansion of the Empire once and for all. And, Tellion had been told, the finally liberation of her long lost home world from the oppressive hooves the Andelites.

"Tellion, hard at work as always." came a voice from right behind her.

Tellion was broken from her long period of deeply personal thought, she turn her elongated head once more. Away from the Yeerk Pool and the horror that it perpetually entailed. Standing over her was a Hork-Bajir controller. One that she knew personally.

"Aftran 945." Tellion said. "It's been a very long time."

Aftran, just like any Yeerk that didn't possess a native body, could only be distinguished by the markings on her Hork-Bajir host's body. There were several unique Yeerk symbols etched across her broad chest and around her sharp, predatory eyes. Also, she wore the unique blue armbands between her arm blades that signified her as one of the Visser's personal body guard. Although Tellion could easily recognize Aftran's markings, she could also recognize Aftran by the way she carried herself. Tellion could see the way Aftran always seemed relaxed, an ease of being that Tellion had rarely seen in other Yeerks. There was a gentleness in Aftran that mirrored her own. She was, after all, the only Yeerk that Tellion could truly call 'friend'. There was so much in her that Tellion sensed in herself, even if Aftran was better at hiding it.

"Hello Aftran." Tellion said, returning to the final process of her work of assessing the stability of the Yeerk Pool. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," Aftran said as she looked out across the vast pool. "Visser Three personally wanted to show the council how well the invasion is proceeding. At a far quicker pace than he claims Visser One was capable of accomplishing. He says that there is no further threat from the Andalites, so he has no need to be on such complete guard as he was before."

"Sounds like self-proclaiming bravado." Tellion said, more to herself than Aftran.

Aftran twisted her sharp, predatory head off to the side. "Of course it is. Visser Three will do anything to promote his accomplishments. You know…he ultimate desires to become the Emperor. Even if he doesn't dare say it to anyone. Yet."

Tellion didn't say anything more as she finished collecting up the samples of the Yeerk Pool's elemental validity. Tellion couldn't help but look back at the young native that had been plunged into the Yeerk pool. She had finally stopped thrashing in the grips of her Hork-Bajir controllers. Slowly, she pulled her head out of the pool and weakly stood to her feet. She took a moment to collect herself, wringing out the liquid in her hair before she turned away and began walking calmly back down the pier. Only it wasn't her anymore, it was the Yeerk that had been assigned to her. Now that frightened young native was nothing more than just a prisoner in her own body. Just like Tallaxia was to her.

Tellion did her best to block out the continued screams of others as they were dragged one by one to the end of the infestation pier and had their heads forced under the surface to be infested again by their assigned Yeerk. Tellion noticed from her top left eye an even younger looking native approaching the end of the infestation pier, something she had been told was a 'child' by other native controllers. Her small frame was being dragged along by a controller that inhabited the body of one of the native local enforcement soldiers. The younger native was a darker color than the controller that was pulling her along. Tellion had to admit, she found the diversity among the natives themselves to be rather strange. There wasn't such difference among any of the many species the Yeerk Empire had incorporated into its fold. The richness of this variety is what made this world so unique. She felt a bit of shame in knowing that the Empire would eradicate much of that once this world was subjugated.

By the child's struggling, this was likely her first time to be infested. Tellion couldn't even imagine the fear that was coursing through her. She immediately averted her eye, unable to keep watching.

Tellion's silence clearly caught the attention of Aftran.

"Tellion, you're troubled. You shouldn't be. The Andalites have been defeated, and we get to live."

"Yes, we get to live." Tellion whispered, looking down at the large three toed feet that weren't really her own. "But at what cost?"

"What do you mean?" Aftran asked.

"We will continue to live." Tellion said. "And what of our hosts?"

"What about them?"

Tellion looked up at Aftran, perhaps for the first time since she had ever taken over Tallaxia, worry was present in her face. "Didn't you hear them? When word of the Andalites first coming was heard? The hope that coursed through all of them. The hope that they would finally be free of us. I know that I felt that in Tallaxia."

"You shouldn't call your host by their name." Aftran stated. "It makes what we do…to personal."

"Everything that we do with them is personal." Tellion stated. "We take away their bodies. We steal their lives. And now, with this battle, we stole their hope."

"Tellion..."

Tellion could see in Aftran's Hork-Bajir eyes, the concern that lurked within.

"You did feel it?" Tellion asked. "Your host's hope that they would finally be free from our control?"

"Tellion," Aftran spoke. "I did sense something in my host. Perhaps it was what you would call joy. But it was a felting moment that ended with the destruction of the Andalite Dome ship and the death of their champion Elfangor."

Tellion still didn't speak. Her head only lowered even more so in sorrow from Aftran's words.

"Tellion, none of us truly know of how our hosts feel. I can sense it, I can even understand it sometimes, but I do not truly feel what they feel. Neither can you."

Tellion shook her head. "No, Aftran. You're wrong."

She finally rose her head so that her six individual eyes could fixate upon her one and only friend in the cosmos.

"I…feel Tallaxia's pain. Her desire to be free." Tellion rose to her feet so that she could look Aftran in her face. "I felt her hope, the one moment of pure joy she ever experienced since our people took away her freedom; that was when the Andalites came. And then I felt her soul being crushed when we defeated the Andalites. I also felt her lose that one moment of hope."

"Tellion…what you're speaking…this is nonsense." Aftran said.

"Is it?" Tellion said, her voice that spoke in Nahara, a voice that wasn't rightfully hers. Tellion looked down at the multitude of tenticles that she commanded at her whim, but weren't her own. "Aftran…this isn't right, what our people are doing."

Aftran chuckled the way a Hork-Bajir should, but Tellion was almost sure she detected a faint trace of doubt in her friend's voice. "Tellion, what are you saying? You think that it's wrong for us to desire to be more than being the blind, helpless slugs that we naturally are?"

"But look at what we have to do Aftran." Tellion cried out, almost not sure herself if she cared if others overheard them. "Our freedom is gained at the price of others loss of freedom!"

Before she could say anything else, Aftran grasped Tellion's shoulders and hoisted her onto the edge of her large feet. Her sharp pair of eyes bore into her own six separate ones.

"Tellion," Aftran whispered softly. "You must never talk like this to anyone. If the Visser were to hear you speak like this…or one of his Lieutenants…"

As she was saying this, the scuttling of hundreds of legs caught their attention. A Taxxon, its long insect body stretched out to its full length, skirted across the rock floor, the large cone shaped mouth at the top of its head was low to the ground with its long tongue darting about in a vain search of food to satisfy its insatiable appetite.

Tellion shuddered at the sight. No Yeerk ever voluntarily chose to be host to a Taxxon. In fact, having to control such a beast was only merited out as a form of punishment. Yeerks found in great subordination or having committed minor crimes among the Empire's laws were made to host Taxxons. The greater the punishment, the longer they would have to host the Taxxon. Tellion had heard stories of Yeerks that had hosted Taxxons for too long and had been driven to insanity by the hunger of the Taxxon that they could never satisfy.

Aftran clearly took the passing of the Taxxon as a way to make her point.

"If anyone hears you speak like this, they'll reassign you to a Taxxon for insubordination. Or…" she paused. "You'll be lucky to die of Kandrona starvation. This…is what we are. And there can never be another way of things. I know the things that we talked of, when we were both younger and more idealistic. But that time has passed now. You must understand that this is how things are now Tellion. Your life depends on it."

Tellion looked right into Aftran's eyes, and saw the faint traces of uncertainty lurking within.

"You don't really believe that anymore, do you Aftran?" Tellion questioned. Aftran's silence, and the way she looked away was all that Tellion needed to know the truth.

"Aftran, there has to be another way. Something better than us making other beings prisoners in their own bodies." Tellion pleaded with her one and only friend.

Before her friend could respond, a disruption occurred on the far side of the Yeerk Pool that broke both of them from their immensely secret conversation. At the distance they were, Tellion couldn't see very well what was happening. But the cry that rippled through the surrounding community of controllers.

"Andalites! They're attacking the Yeerk pool!"

"How…" Tellion said, in almost disbelief.

"That's impossible." Aftran said also, her own voice full of shock. "The Visser killed all of them."

Even as she said that, Tellion saw some kind of multi-striped creature launch itself at a Hork-Bajir controller and take it down. Several other creatures of various sizes and shapes appeared as well at random locations around the Yeerk pool. Even as Tellion tried to process what was happening, a creature came streaking down from high above the top of dome that encompass the Yeerk pool, its claws slashing the face of the controller that was holding the younger native that Tellion had seen before. In the next moment, he let go of the uninfested native and absolute pandemonium erupted as all the uninfesteted hosts ran down the pier, overwhelming the few controllers that were stationed along the way and crushing them under the full weight of their trampling feet.

Aftran grasped Tellion and made her look into her Hork-Bajir face. "Tellion, you need to get out of here!"

"But…" Tellion weakly protested, not sure what she should do or if there was anything that she really could do.

"The Andalites are attacking!" Aftran cried. "Your body is not suited for combat! You need to get away and find a safe place to hide. I'll find you when they've been dealt with!"

"Aftran." Tellion said, still hardly able to say anything.

"Tellion! You're my only friend in this existence. I…can't lose you. I'll deal with the Andalites, but I can't do it worrying about you. Now go!"

Tellion didn't want to leave Aftran to face the dangers alone, but deep inside her small being she knew that she would be of little help in Tallaxia's body. And…she didn't want Tallaxia being hurt by her actions, even if she wouldn't truly feel the pain since Tellion's control tentacles could block out such electrical responses to her host's brain if she chose to retreat them back into herself.

Unable to be of any help with the wild battle that was raging before her, Tellion rushed towards a large pile of storage containers and hid behind them. Even as she was taking cover, she saw the form a large Andalite rushing past her. For one fleeting moment, she was terrified that she would be spotted and killed by her people's mortal enemy. Then she heard the terrifying voice echo in her mind.

Andalites! Here? How can any of them have survived?

Not far from where she hid, Tellion could see an Andalite rush into view. Only he wasn't truly an Andalite. Visser Three looked at the small group of mixed controllers that were gathering around him, looking to him for command on what to do.

Don't just stand there you idiots! Use your Dracon beams and fry those wretched Andalites!

A native controller weakly responded to Visser Three.

"We…we don't have any Dracon beams Visser. None of the guards do. They're all locked up in the armory."

The roar of pure rage that echoed through Tellion's mind was enough to make her shrink further back into the darkness that she had found refuge in. Visser Three's tail lashed out with frightening speed, striking the native controller in the head with the blunt side of his tail blade. The blow knocked the controller unconscious, causing the rest to retreat from him in mortal terror.

You useless fools! I'll deal with these Andalites myself!

After that proclamation, Visser Three rushed into the battle, his Andalite body already morphing, growing in size as he advanced. Tellion didn't look anymore after that. She tucked herself into a small bundle and hide behind the crates that she had found safety in. Even there, she wasn't completely free from the effects of the battle.

Why are you sitting here hiding? Go face the Andalites and show them what the Yeerk Empire is made of. You may even manage to get yourself killed, and free me in the process. What of your 'friend' Aftran? You're just going to hide while she risks her life to try and protect you? Come on you slug, go face them and show us all how you aren't a truly pathetic excuse for a living creature. Tallaxia taunted Tellion.

And she didn't let up. As the wild screams of battle raged on from the other side of the crates, Tallaxia continued to mock Tellion as she sat in fear of being discovered. Calling her a coward and a pathetic excuse for a Yeerk, Tallaxia made sure to sting Tellion in any way that was possible in her current state. And Tellion couldn't block out how Tallaxia's feelings were affecting her. A mixture of hope and desire to see her dead. It was torturous state of being that Tellion felt like it lasted forever.

After what felt like a long length of time, the alarms to the Yeerk pool ceased and the cries of battle ended. Even with the horrific sounds ending, Tellion didn't dare to look out from her hiding spot until she was sure that the danger had finally passed.

It was absolute chaos. Controllers of all species were running about, trying to bring order to the situation as they rounded up the freed hosts that had tried to escape. Even from where she was hiding, Tellion could see several Hork-Bajir and Taxxons lying dead on the rocky floor of the Yeerk pool. She hoped that Aftran wasn't among those slain. Tellion didn't know what she would do if she lost her only friend in existence.

Tellion didn't see any Andalite bodies, or those of the strange creatures they had morphed into before attacking. So then they must have all gotten away. That was surely to make Visser Three furious, and gave Tellion even more reason to stay hidden so as to not incur his wrath. Tellion wasn't even sure why the Andalites had chosen to morph into such a bizzare assortment of native creatures, but perhaps there were many different reasons that she couldn't understand. The most likely explanation that Tellion had was that they were trying to make their escape easier once they had completed their attack of the Yeerk Pool.

Or for that matter, Tellion couldn't understand why they had even attacked in the first place. Yes, they had caused immense confusion to the immediate overall operations and had killed several Hork-Bajir and Taxxon controllers, but overall they had accomplished very little. And they had given away their one and only advantage at the moment, that they had survived the battle against Visser Three's forces. Now the Visser knew that there were still some Andalites around to cause trouble and he would no doubt utilize every resource that he had available to find and destroy them.

Maybe that's why they had launched such a disorganized and clumsy attack. It was a message to Visser Three and the rest of her fellow Yeerks. The Empire wouldn't have this world so easily. They were going to have to fight to claim it.

That thought scared Tellion, more than she had ever thought was possible. What if she was caught up in the fighting the next time the Andalites chose to strike? Would she be able to run and hide as she had done before? Would some higher ranking Yeerk see her and send her to face battle and certain death?

Tellion couldn't help but shudder at the concept. Though she had tried so hard to hide from it, war had managed to find her.

She remained hidden, even after the threat had clearly long since passed. Tellion watched with barely the slightest movement as the last of the uninfested hosts were rounded up and placed back in their cages and the dead were dragged away from processing. Tellion wasn't truly sure how much time had passed, only that it was a significant amount.

Knowing that she couldn't remain hidden forever, Tellion drew a long breath into her Nahara lungs and braced herself to return to the fold of the Empire and resume her duties. Just as she began to rise from her hiding spot, her three right turret eyes caught a flash of movement. Tellion froze and kept her eyes focused on the spot that she had seen something.

And there, lurking in the shadows not far from her, was a creature unlike any that she had ever seen. It was small by her Nahara host's size, probably big enough to be scooped up in her four tentacle ending appendages. It had no arms, only wings that were folded in as the creature clung low to the floor behind a large shipping container near the outer wall of the Yeerk Pool's dome structure. Tellion only had to gaze it once in her immobile silence to know what it was.

Andalite.

Tellion stared at what she had always been told was her mortal enemy. She had never imagined that she would actually encounter one in her life, at least she had hoped so. And here he was, close enough that if she were to throw something at him, Tellion was almost certain that she could hit him.

He must have gotten separated from his comrades in their wild flight from Visser Three, in whatever horrific form he had chosen to combat them. And now he was trapped down here. Tellion was certain that every entrance or exit to the Yeerk was now likely under armed guard. There was no way that the Andalite was getting out of here. His only advantage was that no one knew that he was still down here.

Except her.

Tellion's lowest pair of eye turrets lowered to her control pad. If she were to access the device, and active the emergency distress call, every Yeerk in the surrounding area would come running to her position in a matter of moments. The Andalite would certainly be caught, and it would all be because of her.

Catching an Andalite alive…was unheard of. Only Visser Three had managed to accomplish such a feat. This would total change the course of Tellion's existence. It would put her in immense favor with the Visser. He would likely promote her to an officer position on the spot. She could even be made head cultivator of not only this Yeerk Pool, but any future ones that were constructed on the planet. She, Tellion 7854, would finally be someone.

As all these thoughts raced through her, Tellion began to stretch her lower pair of limbs to grasp her control pad. As her tentacle ends began to wrap around its smooth surface, Tellion saw something.

A pair of shadows from nearby controllers passed over the small area where she and the Andalite were hiding. As the shadows washed over the Andalite's hiding spot, the morphed Andalite ruffled its small frame and pressed himself flat to the floor. To Tellion's shock, he pushed himself back further into the shadows in what seemed a vain effort to remain hidden. It was in that moment that Tellion realized what she was seeing.

Fear.

The Andalite…was afraid.

It was so hard for Tellion to imagine that such an enemy, an enemy she had been taught since her very beginning of existence was a cruel and ruthless force of oppressors, could display a fear that she herself was all too familiar with. Her tentacles instantly halted their entwining grip of her control pad.

If she were to sound the alarm, what would happen to him? His current form was far too small, with no clearly visible ear canal, to be infested by a Yeerk. And the Andalite certainly wouldn't return to his natural form to be infested. Which meant that he would only have one ultimate fate. Torture and death at the hands of Visser Three. And from all of the horrible tales that Aftran had told her, Visser Three had almost a talent for inflicting pain upon a victim for as long as was physically possible to keep them alive. The Andalite would likely wish ten times over for the release of death before actually being granted that kind of release by Visser Three.

Such a horrific fate, even to one that she was told was her mortal enemy, didn't make Tellion feel at ease. She didn't know why, but she remained still as she watched the Andalite cautiously look about. Tellion wasn't even sure how he hadn't seen her by this point. Perhaps he had little experience with the morph he was currently in, or maybe he was too focused on all of the surrounding controllers running about to notice a form that was almost pressed against a nearby storage container.

As Tellion debated to herself what she should do, one of her rotating eyes spotted it. Not far away from where the Andalite was hiding, was one of the many exhaust tubes that vented all of the Yeerk Pool's natural fumes to the surface. It was far too small for either her or any of the other full sized controllers to fit into. But for the morphed Andalite…it was just the right size. The only thing keeping him from being able to flee was that the shutters were closed, no doubt part of the emergency lock down.

When she noticed this, another one of Tellion's eyes spotted a small control panel along the wall. With the right understanding of the panel's systems, the emergency could be override and the shutters could be opened.

The moment that thought crossed through her mind, Tellion thought herself insane. She could…break the emergency lock.

As this thought passed through Tellion's thoughts, she also wondered why such an insane contemplation would come to her. To help an enemy was certain death, and a death that she was sure Visser Three would no likely make just as horrific or even worse than one that would be dealt to the lone Andalite. So why hadn't she already sounded the alarm? Why was she still looking at the control panel?

No matter what rationalization that Tellion kept trying to tell herself, she just couldn't shake the sight of that terrified Andalite hiding in the dark, hoping against fading hope that he wouldn't be spotted and have his life ended in one agonizing way or another. And it wouldn't be long now. Despite his morphed form's smaller size, sooner or later one of the many controllers would spot the Andalite, and that would be it. Unless…

Tellion willed her Naharan body to inch ever so slowly towards the wall, and the control panel. Tellion wasn't really sure what she was even doing. Only that something deep inside her being was propelling her forward. One slow, lumbering step after another, Tellion slid her way across the small space between her and the wall. Somehow, and she still wasn't sure how, the Andalite didn't see her move once in all that time. Then, like the passing of a moment in time, she was standing before the control panel before she even realized fully what she was doing.

As she stared at the faint blinking lights of the small metallic panel, Tellion knew in the very core of her being that this would be her very last moment to turn back. After this, whatever course she had taken would be one that she would face for the rest of her existence, however short that may be. Unable to help herself, she looked back one last time with all six of her Nahara eyes at the almost trembling Andalite.

Yes. This may very well cause her death. But what was her life worth to her, if it came at the cost of sacrificing another's life? Even that of an Andalite. Tellion couldn't bring herself to even think of the unimaginable end of the Andalite would face. It was an end that she knew that she would ultimately be responsible for.

What are you doing? Tallaxia whispered from her small portion of her mind.

Tellion didn't answer her, her thoughts were too focused on her next actions. With a shaking end of her limbs, Tellion rose her top most pair of arms towards the control panel. She placed her tentacles over the surface of the many buttons, and in a blur of both her thoughts and the tapping of the tentacle ends, Tellion override the emergency protocols for the Yeerk Pool's vent systems.

She looked one last time at the terrified Andalite, then wrapped her larger tentacles around the lever next to the buttons. What was wrong with her? Why was she doing this!? Was she completely insane!? Risking her life for the enemy. An enemy that would likely kill her without hesitation if he knew that she knew he was there. What was his life worth next to hers? Very little, or so she had always been taught.

An Andalite's life was worth nothing next to that of a Yeerk. Yet, Tellion couldn't help but feel that valuing a life, even one such as an Andalite's, wasn't crazy. Even as she tried to contemplate that thought, Tellion pulled down on the lever with what little strength her Nahara body would allow.

As if by instinct, or just good observation, the Andalite's head snapped upward at the sound of the vents opening. Its small frame stared for a long, almost frozen in time, moment at the opened exhaust event. Then he flapped his morphed body's small limbs.

Alright! That's my ticket out of here! So long suckers! he shouted out in a voiceless voice. It was the same kind as Visser Three's mental voice that made one's mind want to melt.

With one mighty flap of his limbs, the Andalite took flight and disappeared into the ventilation shaft.

As Tellion stared at the exhaust port in completely befuddled silence, she didn't know what to truly feel. Those words he spoke…was that how an Andalite was supposed to sound? It didn't seem to fit right with their hardened warrior spirit. But what would Tellion truly know? She had never crossed paths with an Andalite before.

As the terrified moment of his escape passed, Tellion tried to make sense of what she had just done. On one hand, she felt absolute terror with the realization of her actions. She had let an Andalite, one her people's mortal enemy, escape. She had just committed treason of the highest order among the Empire's laws. She was a traitor to her own kind. Death by Dracon beam would be the most merciful ending that she could possibly hope for if what she had just done was discovered.

But, at the same time, Tellion couldn't help but feel a strange, almost calming sense of ease pass over her at the understanding that she had just spared a living being of a cruel and terrifying end. In absolute truth, Tellion didn't know what she truly felt in that moment, and what was really the right thing to feel.

You let him go. Tallaxia whispered in almost disbelief. Why did you do that?

"I…I don't know." Tellion whispered herself. "I just…saw that he was afraid…and I just couldn't hand him over to the others."

But he's your mortal enemy. Tallaxia protested. How many of your kin will he kill in the future because of what you just did?

"I don't know. And…doesn't matter." Tellion protested. "I couldn't let his life end the way Visser Three would have ended it. No living being deserves a death like that, not even an Andalite."

You're insane. You just betrayed your people, you know that right? Tallaxia proclaimed. You have committed high treason against the Empire. I could tell the other controllers about what you did the moment you have to leave my body.

Tellion realized that this was true. There was simply no way that she could keep Tallaxia from giving away her actions once she had to return to the Yeerk Pool to absorb the much needed Kandrona rays for her survival. A long moment of silence passed between them before Tellion spoke.

"Will you Tallaxia?"

The moment of silence between them was the longest single space of existence for Tellion that she had ever known. After what felt like an eternity of terror gripped stillness, Tallaxia spoke. Her weary sigh was the first indication to Tellion that her life wasn't about to end.

No…I won't.

Tellion couldn't believe what she had just heard from Tallaxia.

"Why not?" Tellion asked. "I thought being ride of me was your ultimate dream?"

What good would it do me? Tallaxia asked, more to herself than Tellion. Even if the other controllers believed what I was telling them, it wouldn't earn me my freedom. They would just put another one of you disgusting slugs inside my mind and keep me a prisoner for the end of my living days. As much as I despise you Tellion, I'm stuck with you.

Tellion was still in shock by Tallaxia's act of mercy for her, an act that she herself had just shown to her people's mortal enemy. There was a sense of irony to her about that. Tellion instinctively made a faint huffing sound from the back corner of her facial tentacles. Only a Nahara would understand that sign as a form of laughing. Tallaxia easily detected the sign as well.

What? What do you find so funny about any of this? she demanded.

"It's just…" Tellion said, contemplating everything that had happened to her in the last few moments. "I truly owe you my life right now, and all I can think of is that this is the first time that you ever called me by my name, Tallaxia."

There was another moment of long silence between them before Tallaxia spoke.

Don't flatter yourself slug. Tallaxia said with a mental sneer. It won't happen again.


	2. True Freedom

Tellion worked tirelessly with the assortment of various tools she held in her many grips. Connecting vital circuitry to radiation emitters, welding power conduits to the energy core, fine tuning the particle projectors to give the radiation waves as tiny of a wave band as possible; all being done at once. And all done with a nearly unnatural grace that hardly was becoming of the cumbersome Nahara form she possessed. After a few more bits of tinkering, Tellion finalized the assembly of the small Kandrona ray projector and placed it on testing frame. She connected it to a series of cables that were linked to the primary power source for the main Kanadrona ray generator.

She activated her testing programs for her computation device and turned on the miniature Kandrona ray projector. All tests proved more than adequate, the proper level of Kandrona radiation was emitting without any issues. She had constructed a fully functional mobile Kandrona ray that could be used absent of the main bases' power supply. The tenth one this month. Far exceeding all of her supervisor's expectations. Not that Tellion really cared.

Work was about all she had left in her existence.

Ever since the Andalite attack on the Yeerk pool, things all around her had become…strained.

Visser Three was furious that some of the Andalites had survived the loss of their dome ship, and had become even more sadistic and cruel than he already was.

Tellion had personally recalibrated the Visser's own Kandrona Ray generator (he was far too good to swim among the common Yeerks in the main pool) and had brought it back to his personal chambers while he had been in the middle of a very intense inquisition of several scanner technicians. The advantage for Tellion was that, being so low in rank made her almost invisible in his eyes. All she had to do was keep her head down, and listen.

And she wished that she had never stayed that day.

 _Answers_! Visser Three roared in his thought speak at the handful of techs assembled before him. _I want to know how exactly these blasted Andalites survived the_ _battle_!

Tellion watched with two of her rotating eyes as the head of the scanner section of the Pool Ship nervously stepped out in front of the group. His host was of a male native body, and Tellion could easily see the fear that radiated all through his frail form.

"Well…Visser, we reviewed all of the long range scanning recordings of the battle, and we found…"

 _Show me_! he growled, his tail blade whipping back and forth impatiently.

Tellion said and did nothing to make her presence even known as she quietly set up Visser Three's personal Kandrona ray generator, she just watched in silence. A detailed, three dimensional projections of the battle against the Andalite played out before her. She was able to see the swarm of her own side's interceptors go head to head against the Andalite dome ship's own fighters. It was a maddening melee of death between both sides, but more so for her side. As the battle raged on, Tellion watched the Andalite dome ship closing in on the planet, and the Pool Ship. As the distance between the two great vessels decreased, a smaller, but deadly looking ship appeared from behind the Andalite dome ship, coming from the planet's sole terrestrial satellite. The Visser's Blade ship.

As Tellion continued to observe in her quite little space, the large dome section of the Andalite ship separated from the main stalk. As the Dome drifted towards the planet, the engines for the stalk section flared to life as it began to turn to face the Blade ship. Before stalk section of the ship could manage even half of the rotation, the Visser's Blade ship fired on the engine section. After only a few devastating barrages of the main Dracon cannons, the stalk of the dome ship exploded in a silent miniature supernova. The residual shockwave knocked the dome section away from the battle and into a gravitational pull that sent it spiraling towards the planet. As the Visser's Blade ship joined in on the rapidly turning tide of the space battle, five of her own side's fighters broke away from the fight and gave chase to dome section. From behind them, three Andalite fighters also broke away in pursuit.

In the next few tense minutes, Tellion watched as the three Andalite fighters engaged the five interceptors of her side. After two of her force's fighters were shredded, one of the Andalite fighters was hit from a glancing Dracon beam. It crashed into the other Andalite fighter that flew by its side and the two became interlocked in a death spiral, both plummeting to the planet's surface. In just a few moments of wild spinning, they vanished into the atmosphere. The final Andalite fighter (which Tellion just somehow knew was Elfangor's fighter) blasted apart two more of her side's interceptors, saving the dome section from destruction as it entered full free fall of the planet's gravitational pull. But in turn, the fighter had left its rear exposed to the last Yeerk interceptor that had circled around and came up from behind. The interceptor was only able to fire once before it overshot the Andalite fighter, but it was enough to hit it near the main engine and send the last surviving Andalite fighter limping down towards the planet.

Tellion didn't know why, but she felt herself moved by the actions of Elfangor. Even in a hopeless situation, he had fought till the very end. He had left himself open to be shot down in order to save those that were still in the Dome. It was such an act of selfless sacrifice. Tellion wondered to herself if Visser Three had ever, or would ever, do such a thing for any of his troops. Tellion had serious doubts about that.

 _That's enough_. Visser Three said. _I know what happened next_.

He looked away from the projection and at the scanner technician. _You were in command of the scans, was the Dome destroyed_?

"It…it should have burned up in the atmosphere." he weakly assured the Visser. "The trajectory, and rate of fall…it must have crashed into the ocean off the coast of this part of the planet, it couldn't have…"

 _Did you observe its destruction? It's breaking apart in the atmosphere_? Visser Three demanded.

Terror was clear on his face as he meekly answered. "N…no Visser. We lost track of it after it entered high altitude."

 _Fool_! Visser Three screamed. _The Dome section of those ships have emergency reentry thrusters to deal with situations like this! It easily could have survived the descent. There could have been an entire squad of Andalite warrior cadets in that dome, they always send them there in a battle_!

The poor tech was stuttering and mumbling under his breath. Tellion very much doubted that he would have any kind of answer that Visser Three would find satisfactory. Even cowering in her own little dark corner of the room, Tellion couldn't help but feel sympathy to him, and his helpless host.

Visser Three began pacing towards the trembling technician. _The other two Andalite fighters, what happened to them_?

"They crashed, Visser." he protested. "You saw them. There's no way that they could have survived a fall like that."

 _So you informed our forces about them? You dispatched a recovery team to the suspected crash site to verify that they were indeed dead_?

"No…they couldn't have survived…"

 _So you didn't do anything_. Visser Three said in a low voice that was completely devoid of emotion. _You just…what_?

"I…I didn't…" he stammered. "They…couldn't have…I…"

 _You did what_? Visser Three asked again, his voice much lower now. _I want to hear you say it to me_.

"I…I assumed…"

 _You…assumed_. Visser Three cut him off. _Against a costly won battle against the Andalites, the only enemy we face that has any chance of defeating us, you just…assumed that we had killed them all. And clearly we haven't, or else the events of yesterday would not have happened_.

"But…" he pleaded. "we were tracking Elfangor's fighter, just like you informed us to. We made sure to pinpoint its exact landing spot."

 _And that means that you couldn't keep track of several other targets at the same time? What good are you as a scanner section leader if you can't even do that_?

Visser Three pointed the tip of his tail blade at the terrified controller. _You failed the Empire. You failed ME_.

"No! I…"

 _Silence_! Visser Three blasted his thought speak throughout everyone's minds that were present, even Tellion. The Visser's tail blade danced about behind him as he slowly folded his arms across his thin chest. He stepped in front of the trembling tech, swinging his tail about and pressing the tip of its bladed end against the side of the controller's profusely sweating head.

 _Just admit to me that you failed in your duties. And tell me you're sorry_.

Tellion gripped the frame of the Kandrona ray generator in her tentacles as she waited to see what would happen. So did all of the other controllers present. None dared to do anything that would interrupt this moment between the Visser and terrified subordinate.

"I…" he mumbled, barely able to find the voice that he so desperately needed. "I failed in my duties."

There was a very, very long moment where Visser Three didn't say anything. He didn't even so much as a vibration of any portion of his powerful Andalite body. Then, just when Tellion was sure that he would kill the tech, Visser Three eased his blade from the tech's head.

 _There_ , he said, backing up a step. _honesty is much better than feeble excuses. Isn't it_?

The tech collapsed to his knees before Visser Three. "Visser, I swear I will never fail you again!"

 _Of course you won't_. Visser Three said as he turned his head away. _I believe that I've clearly made my point to you of the importance of thoroughly carrying out your duties_.

The tension in the room finally dissipated, and Tellion found herself huffing a sign of relief in unison with the terrified tech. She turned several of her eyes and attention back to making the final adjustments to the Visser's personal Kandrona ray generator. The still trembling controller weakly rose to his feet, the relief all across his face clearly visible to all.

Visser Three's tail continued to dance about in slow, almost lazy arches as he appeared deep in contemplation. As his tail swung back around for the countless time, it suddenly lashed out, so fast that it was all over just as Tellion was dropping her tools in shock. Her eyes rotated over to tech in time to see him stumble back, red blood spurting from deep gashes in both of his shoulders. His cry of pain both startled and bewildered Tellion. Even as he stumbled back, Visser Three's tail blade flashed again in devastating succession. More crimson red spilled from his knee joints, causing him to collapse to the floor.

Tellion didn't move. Neither did any of the other assembled controllers. None dared to do anything to draw the Visser's attention to them. She could do nothing but shrink back into her tiny little space and watch on helplessly as Visser Three loomed over the tech he had just injured.

 _I believe that you learned your lesson. But I don't think the others have. So I think a proper demonstration of the consequences of failing me is in order_.

With only a slight nod from Visser Three, one of his Hork-Bajir guards grasped the wounded tech by his ankle and hoisted him upside down into the air. As he feebly flailed about in the air, Visser Three looked on in obvious disgust.

 _Such a pathetic and frail species_. he said. _If there wasn't such an abundance of host bodies, this world wouldn't even be worth the trouble of conquering_.

Visser Three paced over to a large and open section of his chambers, where a massive circular port was built into the floor. He kept his tail blade poised, as if ready to strike again at a moment's notice. The blade itself was saturated with red, a steady dribble of blood drops falling to the floor as the Visser worked his multiple fingered hands over a nearby control panel. A moment later, the doors on the floor opened. Scuttling and savage clicks echoed up from the miniature chasm that had been breeched, sending cold tremors racing all through Tellion's Nahara body.

They all knew what those sounds were. The wounded tech's eyes widened in terror. Visser Three seemed to take amusement with his fear.

 _Wild Taxxons_. he said, looking down in the hole. _Their hunger is so voracious that no Yeerk can control them. They are quite useless to the Empire, but I find that they do have at least some use to me_.

Visser Three dangled the end of his tail over the hole, flicking its end several times. Even at her distance, Tellion could see the droplets of red fall down in that dreadful opening. Almost instantly, the scuttling and clicks grew wilder and more voracious.

 _Ah. They've got the taste now. They're at the point of insanity, so much so that they'll start eating each other if they're not fed_.

Visser Three's head slowly rotated over to glare at the helpless tech.

 _They've really developed a fondness for native flesh_.

With some signal that Tellion didn't see, the Hork-Bajir guard carried the flailing tech over to the hole. His cries made Tellion's spirit sink into a depth that she had never felt before.

"Please Visser!" he pleaded. "Don't do this! It was a single mistake, it'll never happen again!"

 _Of course it won't, I'm about to make sure of that_. Visser Three said with a sadistic trace of humor in his voice. _You'll feel every last little bit of agony as your host body is eaten alive. Then, just before your host dies, you'll instinctively try to leave it to save yourself, and you'll be eaten as well. Think of it as…dying twice_.

The Hork-Bajir held the bewildered controller over the opening. His eyes darted from what was laying below him to Visser Three.

"Visser!" he screamed in absolute desperation. "Give me one more chance! I'm begging you!"

 _I am not in a giving mood this day_. Visser Three said with a slight wave of his hand.

With that gesture, the Hork-Bajir released his grip, and the tech plummeted to his grisly doom below.

Tellion felt a sickness deep in the pit of her Nahara stomach as she heard the horrific screams of the tech being eaten alive. The other scanner techs, even the Hork-Bajir guards, looked like they were going to be sick. Only Visser Three remained unfazed by the sights and sounds of the tech's death in the Taxxon filled hole. Not once did any of his four eyes shift from the execution he had just ordered. It was only after his screams died away that he finally closed the hatch and turned back to the trembling techs.

 _Let this be a lesson to all of you to take your duties more…diligently_.

His stalk eyes twisted around behind his head to face Tellion.

 _Are you done setting up my Kandrona ray generator_?

Just seeing those pair of absolutely cruel eyes made Tellion cower in her place. It was as if the Visser could pierce through Tallaxia's skull and glare right at Tellion in her natural state. She tried to respond to him, but her voice died in the back of her throat, causing only a feeble slurping noise to sputter past her mouth tentacles.

 _Answer me_! Visser Three roared, all sense of patience gone from his mental voice.

Tellion meekly nodded her head to him.

 _Then get out_! he shouted, turning his head to the remainder of the scanner techs. _All of you! I have Andalites to hunt_.

Tellion moved out of the room as fast as any Nahara could possibly move, beating everyone else to the exit. She continued her quick hobble away from Visser Three's chambers, and the horrific sight she had just witnessed. No matter how fast she moved, Tellion kept hearing his screams from down in the bottom of that hole.

 _That could have been me._ she thought in terror. _That will be me if they ever find out that I let an Andalite escape._

 _And you still think that I'll tell them_? Tallaxia asked in a nearly mocking voice. _You think the Visser would even bother to pull you out of me before they executed you_?

Tellion didn't answer. She knew that she could trust Tallaxia to keep their secret safe, but that only made her feel a slight bit of relief from the terror of grisly death that hung over her.

That horrific ordeal had only been the very beginning of it. In the months since the Andalites had first attacked the pool, they struck the Empire's forces again and again. Tellion only knew what Aftran was able to disclose to her or what she heard other Yeerks speaking of events, but it was all bad.

At first, Visser Three had tried desperately to keep the fact that several Andalites had survived the battle and were still causing trouble hidden from the council. He had almost captured an Andalite that had been spying on one of his higher ranking officers, but the others had rescued their comrade and had destroyed an interceptor while it was on the ground. The breaking point for Visser Three had been when the Andalites had somehow managed to destroy one of the Pool Ship's three tanker ships while it had been on a supply run. After that, Visser Three had been forced to reveal the truth of the situation to Visser One and the council.

Things had progressively deteriorated when the Visser had found the remains of the dome ship deep in the ocean off the coast, and had failed to stop the remaining Andalites from escaping.

It was even worse when Aftran had told Tellion about how Visser Three had captured most, if not all, of the Andalite bandits and brought them to the Pool ship for Visser One to personally see before executing them. And they had managed to escape right from under his grasp.

Despite having no way to prove it, Aftran had told her that Visser One must have helped the Andalites escape in a diabolical act to keep Visser Three from gaining anymore standing with the council. If nothing else, Tellion felt herself sickened when she heard that.

Such petty internal strife. Risking the success of the invasion, and possibly even putting all of their lives at risk, just to hold on to a power that they had become accustom to. How could Yeerks ever unify the galaxy if they themselves could never be truly unified? Was this what they had truly become? An army that constantly conspired, and plotted, and betrayed each other. All in selfish aspirations to overthrow and replace those above them, and to keep those below them from doing the same to them in turn. What kind of future was there for her, for all of her people, when faced with that realization?

Once she had completed the construction of the Kandrona ray generator and packed it to be shipped out for the ever increasing long range operatives, Tellion returned to the Nahara section of the Yeerk Pool. There were only seven other Nahara controllers operating planet side, so the living quarters that Tellion called home was very small. Thankfully, Tellion saw that she was alone. She was the sole Nahara controller that worked on Kandrona rays and the Yeerk Pool. The other controllers were clearly busy performing their duties.

Tellion quietly went over to the section that was hers and sat on the bunk. It was small and cramped, with no luxuries afforded to any low ranking Yeerks like herself. But it was 'hers'. There was little in room other than the sleeping quarters and a small work bench with an assortment of tools dispersed across its surface. She focused two of her eyes on the flimsy door that shielded her from the rest of the Yeerk 'community', and all other prying sets of eyes. Tellion felt the weariness in Tallaxia's body.

Tellion had pushed herself hard over the last few days, her host's body really needed rest. While Tellion herself never truly 'slept', she did enter a semi-dormant state when Tallaxia's brain entered its dream cycle. It was a strange sensation for Tellion. Not being fully aware of the world around her, but at the same time not being closed off from it as well. In this sense, Tellion envied Tallaxia. Even though she was connected to her host on almost every level physically imaginable, she never experienced the things that Tallaxia called dreams. They were not part of her physical thought process, nor did they ever appear in the corners of her brain that memories were formed and stored in until after they had passed.

But dreams were not the things that were going through Tellion's thinking. Her thoughts were on something else. Something that had been troubling her for a very, very long time.

"Tallaxia," Tellion whispered in such a low voice that she almost didn't hear it herself. "are you there?"

There was period of silence, and Tellion wondered if Tallaxia would even both to speak to her. She hadn't in a while, which only caused Tellion even more emotional grief.

 _What do you want_? Tallaxia finally asked, her mental voice low and weary.

Tellion brought all four of the tentacle ends of her arms together to have the multiple ends squirm over each other. She rotated another pair of her eyes down at the constantly fidgeting ends as she contemplated what she was about to do next.

"I want to talk to you." Tellion said.

 _What is there for us to talk about_? Tallaxia growled.

Tellion drew in long, deep breath before the next words flowed from the back of her throat.

"Tallaxia, I've been thinking, a lot lately."

 _About what_?

"About us."

 _There is no 'us'_. Tallaxia hissed. _I'm your slave. You make me a prisoner in my own body. YOU are a life stealer_.

"I never wanted to steal your life." Tellion pleaded to her. "I just wanted…to be more than what I am."

 _And now you are_. Tallaxia growled. _You're no longer just a lowly slug. Now you're a slave master_.

"But I don't want to be!" Tellion blurted out. "Not anymore…"

The silence in the room was maddening to the point that Tellion feared she would lose her sanity.

 _What nonsense are you going on about_? Tallaxia demanded.

Tellion raised all four of her arms so that she could look at them before placing the tentacle ends on the side of her head.

"Tallaxia," Tellion said. "I owe you my life, and I want to thank you for that."

 _Don't thank me_. Tallaxia grumbled at her. _I was saving myself more than you. I just couldn't do it without saving you too_.

"But you still did." Tellion said. The tentacles that shielded her mouth weakly entwined over each other. "And I want to give you a gift."

 _There's nothing that you can give me that you haven't already taken from me_. Tallaxia said.

"No!" Tellion shouted. "That's not true Tallaxia! I can give you something."

Tellion couldn't stop her whole Nahara body from shaking as she found the strength to speak what she knew in her spirit that she needed to say next. This was something that, as far as Tellion knew, no Yeerk had ever dared to do before. It was a terrifying thought to process, but deep within the core of her very being, she knew beyond all doubt that this was the right thing, the only noble thing, that she was capable of doing.

"Tallaxia…" Tellion whispered. "I want to give you back…your freedom."

Tallaxia said nothing for what felt like forever to Tellion.

 _You lie_. she said in an almost disbelieving tone.

"No. I'm not." Tellion said. "Tallaxia, we have been bonded for a long time. I have done many things that I am not proud of, and I am many things that cause me deep…guilt. But you know me. You know that I don't lie. Not to you."

 _I don't believe you, slug_. Tallaxia cursed, the doubt all too clear in her mental voice.

Tellion sighed and laid herself out fully across her bunk to prepare herself and Tallaxia for what was about to come.

"Tallaxia." Tellion said as she stared up at the jagged rocky ceiling. "I'm not your slave master anymore. You're free."

With that final statement, Tellion found the courage to do what she had secretly wished she had the strength to do since the first time she had connected herself to Tallaxia's brain. With one last internal sigh, Tellion began to withdraw the bulk of her control tendrils from their nerve connections to Tallaxia's mind. She kept the ones that were connected to the nerve and sensory centers of Tallaxia's brain so that she could still see and feel everything that Tallaxia experienced, but everything else Tellion severed.

Against all of her teachings, against everything that she had ever known, against everything that her Yeerk instincts warned her, Tellion surrendered all of her control over Tallaxia, and made herself the slave for once in her existence.

Her vision changed as she did this. No longer did she clearly see everything from up close. Now all sight was viewed from as if she were looking at it from a distance. While it was still viewable to her, nothing was as clear as it had once been. But it was a sacrifice that Tellion willingly accepted for what she was giving to Tallaxia. The same came from all of the other sensory nerves. Everything was still able to be felt, but it was all diminished.

Some time passed as they each felt the transformation passing between them. Then, something happened that Tellion had no words to describe. 'Her' Nahara body shuddered, then slowly rose to sit up on the bunk.

Only…it wasn't her doing it. Tellion had done nothing to make the body move. Everything that was happening, it was all from Tallaxia's own movements. The tentacle ended arms all rose to the head, each of the countless micro-tentacles running their lengths over the smooth surface of the Nahara head. There was a sense of almost doubt with the movement of those ends, and the sensations that were running through Tallaxia and into Tellion.

"My…" Tallaxia spoke in a weak voice, as if she wasn't sure that she was wake or asleep. "My body…it's mine. It's mine again."

 _Yes_. Tellion told her. _It's how you were always meant to be. And…I'm happy to give this to you Tallaxia_.

Tallaxia swung her legs over the edge of the bunk and gently, cautiously, pressed them against the floor as she stood up. She wobbled slightly, clearly trying to find her balance again. To Tellion's delight, Tallaxia quickly found her natural footing and stood confidently on her own two bulky feet. She took one clearly terrified step, as if daring to take that one leap into something else would shatter the illusion that had just happened. After that barrier had been crossed, Tallaxia began to weakly walk around the small room.

"W…" Tallaxia mumbled to find the right words to make sense of everything. "Why would you do this?"

 _Tallaxia_. Tellion said as she watched her 'host' move about the room for the first moment of true freedom that she had known it countless years. _I don't want to rule you. I…I never did. All I ever truly wanted…was to be something more than what I was naturally born as. But if the price of gaining that freedom comes at what I've done to you, then I don't want any part of that. Tallaxia, I want us to find a way to live together_.

Tellion paused as she searched for the courage to tell Tallaxia what she truly felt.

 _I want…I want us be able to find a peace_.

Tallaxia stopped moving when she heard this. All of her body's movements stopped, even her eyes stopped rotating as she contemplated the proposal given to her. All of her arms lifted so that she could look at all of her squirming tentacles. Tentacles until just a short time ago she had no control over.

"So then…" Tallaxia said with a sense of sadness in her voice. "You'll still stay inside of me? Even though I have my body back, you'll still live inside my skull, wrapped around my brain?"

 _There isn't any other way_. Tellion told her. _Sooner or later, the other controllers will realize that you're not infested, and another Yeerk will be put into you_.

"I see…" Tallaxia said in a low voice.

 _You'll almost never know that I'm here Tallaxia_. Tellion assured her. _I'll only speak to you when you want me to. And…I'll only control you when I need to perform my duties_.

"So you'll take over me again?" Tallaxia asked.

 _Only for a short time every once and a while_. Tellion said. _Just enough to not raise suspicions about us. I'll even teach you how to work the machines, so you can have more time to your own body. You'll have the greater freedom, but we'll share it_.

"Share...control of my body?" Tallaxia asked.

 _It's the best that I can do for you, Tallaxia_. Tellion said. _If there was any other way, some way that I could live like you without having to control you or another, I would do it. But this is the most ideal outcome that I can see for both of us_.

"I just don't understand why you did all of this." Tallaxia said. "I don't understand why you would do this, for me."

 _Because Tallaxia_. Tellion told her. _That day that the Andalites came…I felt your hope. It was such pure joy, the best thing that I had ever felt in my entire existence. And I wanted to feel that again, but not at the fear of losing my own life. I wanted you, I wanted us, to feel that kind of joy. I wanted that hope and joy to be from something good that I did for you Tallaxia_.

"You're not like any other Yeerk that's infested me." Tallaxia said, almost disbelieving her own words.

 _I don't think I'm like any other Yeerk that exists_. Tellion told her. _And I'm ok with that_.

"This…" Tallaxia said as she began to nervously move around the room. "This day, I dreamt of it for so long, I almost forgot what it was like to be…free."

Tallaxia almost playfully spun around several times with her four arms held out in a near praise. Tellion could feel her the joy radiating up from Tallaxia's mind and into her. It such warmth, such comfort, it was indeed the greatest thing that Tellion had ever felt. It made her so happy.

"Freedom." Tallaxia murmured in the faintest breath as she continued to spin around. "My only dream…my only hope…"

This…this moment. This was what Tellion knew she had desired to know since the moment of her birth. Until now, her entire existence had been only that of a soldier in an army/society. To feel, to believe that there was something better than that, was an experience that in a strange way made Tellion feel liberated herself.

Although Tellion had surrendered control to Tallaxia, she felt freer now than she had ever been before.

 _Tallaxia_ … Tellion said to her. _I really hope that we can_ …

Tallaxia lunged from her playful spinning towards the nearby work table before Tellion could finish what she was saying.

The unexpected move caught Tellion completely off guard. She had no idea what Tallaxia was doing. Then, through her connection to Tallaxia's eye nerves, Tellion saw her scrambling to grasp any of the multiple tools laid across the surface of the workbench.

Terror surged all through Tellion's small body as it dawned on her what Tallaxia was going to do. She instantly began spearing out her control tendrils again as fast as her Yeerk body would allow her in a desperate effort to stop Tallaxia. As the first of her tendrils began to sink once again into the folds of Tallaxia's brain, Tallaxia wrapped tentacles around a long drill rod. Squeezing the power switch, the drill rotated to life with a terrifying mechanical whirl.

The arm nerves! Tellion thought to herself as she pushed her control tendrils down into the brain folds. The arm nerves!

Too late.

With the most powerful cry that Tellion had ever heard Tallaxia roar, Tallaxia plunged the spinning drill's end upward towards her own head. Towards her own brain. And Tellion.

Even looking at what was happening from afar in the back corners of Tallaxia's mind, Tellion felt as if time itself was slowing down as she watched that rotating drill spiraling upwards towards her to enact her own imminent extinction.

At the last moment, Tellion felt her control tendrils connect to the nerve centers of the brain, but not the ones that could stop Tallaxia. In one last desperate bid to save both Tallaxia and herself, Tellion sent an impulse command from herself, down through her control tendrils, and into Tallaxia's brain.

A fraction of a moment before the drill plunged into the elongated skull to kill them both, Tellion commanded the head to jerk to the side. It wasn't enough to stop Tallaxia. The drill just barely missed its mark. Instead of piercing through the skull and into both herself and Tallaxia's brain, the end of the drill scrapped along the length of her head, gouging out a large track of flesh as it scrapped along the surface of Tallaxia's skull, just barely missing two of her eyes in the process.

The searing pain of that wound exploded up through every single part of the nerve endings, up through Tallaxia's brain, and into Tellion herself. It was a horrific agony that she had never experienced, and it was harder on her than she had ever, could ever imagine. Or maybe she had just never wanted too.

Even as Tallaxia lost control over her body once more, she continued to fight with a strength that Tellion never could have contemplated was possible from any Nahara, let alone her own host. As the body staggered and fell to the floor, and Tellion reeled from the pain that was coursing through her, Tallaxia lifted the drill high over her head and tried to finish what she had started. Tellion lifted one of the eyes she regained control over and watched with terror as the drill was plunged once again, this time to finish what had been failed at a moment ago.

Tellion finally regained control over the primary arm that held the drill, even as it plunged downward. She sent a desperate, wild command to halt the arm. When the strength of the arm began to fail in its endeavor, Tallaxia roared with renewed vigor. Her other three arms, each still momentarily under her control, reached up and all of their tentacle ends wrapped around the shaking drill. With a snarl of absolute fury, Tallaxia pushed with all her might to plunge the drill down. Tellion desperately tried to stop her, even as her control tendrils continued to regain more and more power over Tallaxia's body.

The drill end slowly, menacingly, dropped towards them. But as it neared their profusely bleeding head, the strength began to drain from Tallaxia's other arms.

"NO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she struggled against her own failing body to kill the both of them. "Nnnn _ooooo_!

When Tellion finally got enough control, she sent an impulse command up into the arm that held the spinning drill. With her own mental cry, Tellion willed the arm to throw away the drill. It spun wildly through the air, clattering against the nearby wall.

With the threat of immineant death averted, Tellion lost all strength in her control over Tallaxia's body and slumped against the wall. A deep sigh of relief passed from her mouth tentacles as she tried to make sense of the understanding that she had just somehow managed to save her life. The pounding pain surging through her head caused Tellion to reach up with a hesitant tentacle ends to touch the injured area. Tellion felt horribly sick when she saw the dozens of slithering ends each saturated with blood. She had been so close, almost a minute fraction of a moment, from being dead. And it was all from the one with whom she had just shown the greatest amount of compassion that she had ever given to any living being in her life.

Tellion sat in disbelief as the wound on the side of her head leaked down across the whole side of the body that she now called her own once again. All of her six eyes darted about, but several focused on the drill that lay nearby, it long spiral length coated in a mixture of blood and gory flesh. Tellion was beside herself as she glazed at it.

"Tallaxia…" she gasped, still reeling from the sensation that she had almost been killed by her host. "Why…why did you do that?"

 _I wanted to be free_! Tallaxia roared. _Free of all of this. Free from you_!

Tellion could barely comprehend the anger and…hatred, that came from Tallaxia as she screamed at her. It left her completely at a loss for understanding. It dampened the excruciating pain that pounded all across her the head that she now had control over once again.

"But…" she said in a faint whisper. "I…I gave you freedom Tallaxia."

 _Freedom_! she roared. _A freedom that you can give…and take at your whim, that's not freedom Tellion! It's just another sadistic form of control, even if you can't see it_!

"But that's not true!" Tellion said, not sure if she really understood herself what she was saying.

 _Why did you do this to me_?! Tallaxia roared. _Why did you torture me like this_?

"I…" Tellion searched for the right answer. "I just wanted us to be…friends."

 _Friends_! Tallaxia screamed at her. _As if I would ever be friends with a filty, disgusting creature like you_!

"What…" Tellion pleaded with her. "What do you want me to do Tallaxia?"

 _I want you to die!_ Tallaxia screamed, a hatred that was far beyond any primal rage that Tellion was shaken to core of her very existance. _I want you to crawl out of my ear, so that I can stomp and grind you under my feet, and then the other controllers will kill me so that I'll finally be free_!

Tellion muttered an incoherent response, but Tallaxia didn't relent in her verbal assault.

 _You_ , she roared. _are a parasite! A sadistic slave master! A monster_!

Tellion shuddered at Tallaxia's words, because deep within herself, she couldn't find the words to refute anything that Tallaxia was screaming at her.

 _You, Tellion, are the physical incarnation of evil_! Tallaxia screamed. _You are an abomination to all of creation. And you will never be anything other than that! I HATE YOU! I'll hate you until the very last breath I draw_.

Tellion didn't respond. She just sat there as she both heard and felt all of the anger, and sorrow that poured from the depths of Tallaxia's being into her own. What she heard next, was far more painful than anything that Tellion had ever experienced.

 _I just want to go home_! Tallaxia wailed, the cry of a spirit finally breaking into a shamble of what it had once been. _I want my family back! I want MY life back_!

As she continued to wail in a pain that was far too deep for Tellion to even try and comprehend, Tellion delved into Tallaxia's memories. And it only took her a moment of searching to wish that she had never looked into those visions of the past. For in that moment, Tellion saw Tallaxia's most horrific and sorrowful day of her life. Tellion saw the day that Tallaxia had first been infested.

But it wasn't because of the infestation that had destroyed her life. It was who had done it.

On that horrific night, the one that had dragged Tallaxia kicked, screaming, and pleading down into the Yeerk pool on her home world…had been her own mother. Tellion couldn't understand the bond of a mother and child, her own three parents had died when they formed together and had splintered into hundreds of pieces in the natural birthing process of the Yeerk species, of which one of those many pieces had been Tellion herself.

Tellion watched with a grim silence as she watched the memory as if she had lived it herself. She watched as the Hork-Bajir controllers had grasped Tallaxia and pulled her over to the edge of the Yeerk Pool, how she had looked back at her mother, and how the one being in all the cosmos that she should have looked to for protection had watched on without the slightest shred of sympathy or remorse as her head had been plunged down into the metallic surface, and moments later she lost her freedom.

It was then, in that moment, that Tellion truly understood the absolute evil that was the Yeerk Empire.

To destroy the life of a child. To destroy all that had ever been good in her innocent life…was a nightmare that one could never wake up from. Not for Tallaxia.

Not even for her.

Because…despite all of her claims of wanting to be something better, Tellion knew that she was just as guilty of the acts of evil her people engaged in. She had done nothing to oppose it, she had gone along with it all. She had, and was, aiding in the suffering of countless other beings that had lost everything that they held dear in their lives.

As she sat there, hearing Tallaxia's wails of pure agony, Tellion couldn't help but believe that Tallxia was right.

She, Tellion, was an abomination. She was a parasite. A slave master. An incarnation of all that was wrong in the eyes of all creation. And it was completely foolish of her to think that she could ever, or would ever, be anything other than that.

Sitting in that sad, lonely corner of her miserable world, Tellion was so tempted to honor Tallaxia's request to crawl out of her and be crushed. Just to end the pain and suffering of which she could see no end to.


	3. A Soldier's Duty

Tellion worked over the latest readings for the validity of the Yeerk Pool's PH balance and Kandrona ray absorption. Everything appeared to be in acceptable ranges. Once again she had surpassed the expectations of her duties.

And she couldn't care less.

Ever since the debacle with Tallaxia that had almost cost them both their lives, Tellion had felt as if she were in a spiral of emptiness of which she couldn't escape. Nothing seemed to matter to her anymore. She just couldn't forget Tallaxia's words, her soul shattering cries, or the agonizing memory of when she had lost her freedom. Tellion should have known better than to try and be something other than the horrific enslaver that she had been born to be.

She was still not sure how she was even still alive. Once she had patched up her injured head from that day, and had convinced the other Nahara controllers that it had just been a freak accident while doing some extra work, Tellion was so convinced that Tallaxia would reveal her secret to the Yeerk authorities, if no other reason than to know that she was dead. That moment when she had to leave Tallaxia after the attempted suicide had been just as terrifying to Tellion as when that drill had been thrusted at her head. Unable to do anything to help herself, Tellion had just waited in her own little world of silence as she swum through the Kandrona soaked liquid. Time stretched out as she waited to be snatched up from the Yeerk Pool and slowly fried under a low yield Dracon Beam.

Against all of her fear…nothing happened.

Tellion returned to Tallaxia without incident. She wasn't called to an inquiry or execution. When she had asked Tallaxia why she hadn't reported her, all Tellion got was silence. Nothing Tellion said, or asked, was met with a response. Not after that day. Not ever again. It was like Tallaxia had just vanished. Only she was still there. Tellion could feel her, Tallaxia just refused to speak to her. She refused to even acknowledge that she even existed.

She had said nothing to Tellion since, and that hurt Tellion almost as much as her words from that day. Because, deep within herself, Tellion just knew that Tallaxia had finally broke. It was something that older Yeerks had told her about with hosts that had been enslaved for a long period of time. They just stopped interacting with anything, even the Yeerks controlling them. It was almost like they vanished from existance, even though they were still around. A broken host. A broken soul.

And Tellion had broken Tallaxia.

She hadn't tried to. She had never meant to do that to her. But Tellion had. And now Tallaxia was what the Yeerk Empire desired of all of the millions of hosts that were enslaved by them, a completely subjugated body that they could use without resistance.

Knowing that only made Tellion feel even worse, because she didn't want to take part in that kind of evil. Yet she had, and now Tellion was no different from any other Yeerk in the vast expanse of the Empire. It brought her down to a level of lesser being than she had ever thought was possible for one of her kind. Now, all Tellion hoped for was a way to have it all end. Only the fear of death kept her from telling her superiors of what she had done that day the Andalites had attacked the pool.

Lost in that swirling vortex of emotions and despair, Tellion did the only thing that she knew to do. Perform her duties. And that was exactly what she did for what felt like a lifetime of work, all the while hoping that she could stay hidden from the conflict that was swelling all around her.

She just wanted to exist. Nothing more.

'Tellion 7854, report to the Visser's chambers.'

Tellion froze as she heard that command echo within the confines of the room she was currently working in. Why would she be called? What had she done to draw the attention of the Visser himself? Nothing that Tellion could think of. She had done everything that she could to make herself invisible to her superiors.

Then the dreaded thought crossed her mind. What if Visser Three knew? What if he had somehow found out that she had let one of the Andalites go? The icy touch of death ran across Tellion's shoulders and down her hunched back.

This had to be a mistake, she thought to herself, no way that the Visser could ever had known what she did. Surely they were calling for some other Yeerk and had instead accidentally pulled her name out of some kind of older roster. Yes, it must have been a mistake.

'Tellion 7854, report to the Visser's command center immediately.'

There, it was set. Tellion couldn't control the shudder that ran all through her body. Visser Three requested her presence. And that wasn't a 'request'. Either she went, or her death was all but guaranteed. Although she found herself in a living state of complete dispare, Tellion didn't want to die. Or at least, she didn't want to die and cause Tallaxia to perish as well. But with that command directed specifically to her, Tellion didn't have any choice. She had to go face the Visser.

Allowing only one weary breath to pass from her tentacle mouth, Tellion braced herself for her end and headed to Visser Three's command center.

Tellion passed through the vast underground complex that was the planet side Yeerk pool. The place that she ironically called her home. Tellion made sure to take in every part of it, every last little detail that had brought even the slightest joy to her, in what may be the last time she would ever experience any of this.

And just like the passing of a moment in time, Tellion found herself at the doors to the Visser's command center. With nothing left to hold her back, Tellion inhaled deeply for what may have been the last time and entered.

 _Where is that damn Kandrona ray specialist I requested_?! Visser Three's thought speech roared out into Tellion's mind.

Tellion froze in the doorway at the sheer force of Visser Three's terrifying voice. With all six of her eyes, she scanned the room. There was a small assembly of Yeerks in all manner of host bodies, but mostly in the native forms. Visser Three stood menacingly in front of all of them. His stalk eyes instantly focused straight to Tellion.

 _You._ he said, _Are you the Kandrona ray specialist?_

Tellion wasn't sure, but she thought that his question was more out of annoyance than an actual expectation of an answer. Tellion weakly nodded her head. Visser Three flicked his tail in an obvious gesture for her to enter the room. For all her faults at being able to read the expectations of others, Tellion knew not to make the Visser wait. She promptly lumbered into the room, still not entirely sure why she was even there. The one thing that Tellion did know for sure was to take great care to keep all six of her eyes focused on the floor right in front of her. She didn't dare to think of what Visser Three would do if she even accidentally managed to look directly into any of his four eyes. She had only made it several paces before the Visser spoke again.

 _It is Tellion 7854, correct?_ Visser Three asked.

Tellion nodded her head again. She knew from her memories of Tallaxia that Nahara didn't make such gestures with their bodies when answering questions through non-verbal means, but she was sure that Visser Three didn't know the Nahara body signals. And she had learned many of the non-verbal ways that the native controllers communicated among themselves when they didn't care to use words. Tellion suspected that Visser Three knew many of those gestures from his time of commanding the invasion force. Clearly, her hope was proven true as Visser Three spoke directly to her again.

 _I've heard many good things about you from your superiors. Apparently, they say that you are somewhat gifted when it comes to the creation and maintenance of the mini-Kandrona ray generators, and that you also possess a keen understanding of how to effectively cultivate and care for the Yeerk Pool. Is that true?_

"Y…yes Visser." Tellion weakly answered. "I am an expert."

Visser Three's main eyes on his face narrowed directly at her. _Then I hope you prove yourself worthy of their praises, for your sake. Because I have great need for one with your skills for this next operation that I am planning._

Visser Three, in an act Tellion was sure few Yeerks had seen in person, moved both his stalk eyes about and rotated his head around the room.

 _Where is Temrash 252? I specifically called for him to be present at this meeting. Where is he?_

Tellion didn't have an answer for those questions. Nor did she even desire to. Tellion, like any reasonable Yeerk, was terrified of Visser Three. But aside from him, Temrash came in a very close second for being a Yeerk to fear. What little Tellion knew about him was that he had earned every bit of fear that he installed among fellow Yeerks. He was one of Visser Three's closest officers, and took care of the dirty work that the Visser found wasn't worth his time. She had heard from the friends of the security personnel that had failed to detect the Andalites when they had first attacked. She had so many cold tremors run through her Nahara body as they fearfully described how Temrash had slowly tortured the lower ranking controllers to death in front of their entire security sections. They had begged him for death long before he had finally grown weary of slicing apart their native host bodies and had used specialized tools to extract the Yeerks from their hosts. Tellion had also felt the same sickness from the day she had watched Visser Three feeding the scanner tech to the Taxxons when they described how Temrash had slowly fried the guilty Yeerks under a slow yield Dracon beam.

 _Where is Temrash?!_ Visser Three's roar broke Tellion from her terrified memories, bringing her back to a just as frightening present. He's trying my last patience.

Immediately after Visser Three spoke those words, the door to the command center opened and Temrash 252 strolled in.

 _You…_ Visser Three growled. _Are late Temrash 252._

"I know Visser Three." Temrash said, bowing his head slightly to the supreme commander. "My apologies, but I had to remain with my host's family for a little longer than I expected. It was necessary for me to not break cover and raise any suspicions about myself."

Visser Three focused all four of his eyes on Temrash 252 intensely. Temrash kept his head lowered, but from her angle Tellion could see his host face clearly. The very tips of the edge of his mouth were curved slightly upward.

Tellion didn't really understand what that minute gesture meant, but she was sure that Temrash could have gotten to the assembled meeting sooner than he claimed. That belief only made Tellion feel even more worried. She rotated two of her eyes to watch Visser Three. He kept his harsh Andalite eyes fixated upon Temrash for a few more moments before diverting his attention away from his reliable officer.

 _Very well then, take a seat Temrash. We have much to discuss, and time is essential._

"Of course Visser Three." Temrash said, moving to take a seat right in front of her.

With his face hidden from Visser Three's terrifying gaze, Temrash smiled, seemingly more to himself than to anyone that bothered to notice. Tellion didn't like to see such a thing, because she knew what kind of Yeerk he was. Tellion was surprised that Visser Three hadn't noticed the truth, even when it was easily seen by a low rank Yeerk like herself. Temrash was only loyal to Visser Three in the sense that he had to be at the present moment. Tellion was almost sure that if he had even half a chance of succeeding, Temrash wouldn't hesitate to dispose of Visser Three and take his place. Maybe Visser Three himself knew of this, and either didn't care because he admired Temrash's ruthlessness and ambition to succeed, or he believed that he was still able to impose enough fear in his subordinates that no one, not even Temrash, would dare to try and usurp him.

Either way, it made him a dangerous liability to be near or have to work under. Tellion couldn't help but feel a great amount of pity for those Yeerks that called Temrash commander.

Tellion took a mental check of her thoughts as Temrash took a seat directly in front of her. It didn't make a difference to Tellion. Nahara were naturally taller than the natives of this world, so her head easily was above Temrash so that she could see clearly everything that Visser Three was doing.

 _Everyone is here now._ He said more like a stating of fact to himself rather than asking a question. _Good. We will get on to the reason why I have assembled you all._

Visser Three worked his Andalite fingers across a small handheld computer module. A fully clear holographic image of the full layout of the native city was set on full display for all to see. Tellion was momentarily left stunned by the sheer scope of just how big the native city was. For all the talk that Tellion heard from so many other Yeerks, the natives of this world were easily dismissed as primitive and backwards. But seeing such a vast landscape of buildings that stretched so far across the surface of this world, so vast that it could swallow up ten Pool Ships and still have room to fit more…left Tellion in complete awe.

She had thought the Yeerk Pool, her home, grand in scale. And the Pool Ship even greater. Both were dwarfed by the native city. There were no memories from Tallaxia or other images that Tellion had seen of cities under control of the Yeerk empire that came to even a quarter of the size of this massive congregation of structures. And this was only one city among countless others across the entire expanse of the globe.

Seeing this made Tellion truly realize just how daunting the task of conquering his world would really be. She had her doubts that the Yeerks would be able to conquer this world in less than three years, even without the interference of the Andalite bandits. Just as she started to let her mind wander, a multitude of red dots appeared all over the circumference of the massive city and Visser Three spoke.

 _As you can all see, our forces have been making reasonable progress in infiltrating all parts of the human society. Originally, the plan was to simply conduct mass infestation of all the humans until we had gained an effective foothold on this world. However, those blasted Andalite bandits have forced us to restructure our strategy. Because of their interference, we will have to be more strategic in our selection of targets to infest. But more importantly, it is vital that we create a new front. As long as our primary forces are isolate here in this one regional area, the Andalites can attack us at their leisure. However, once the invasion has spread beyond this foothold, they will not be able to halt our progress. This is why I have assembled you all here._

Visser Three tapped his control module, and the scene of the city switched to an image of a native that Tellion had never seen before.

 _We have just received word from several of our deep cover operatives that this native, a figure of prominent importance in the governmental structure of the greater region surrounding this city, but more importantly he will likely attempt to gain a position of higher authority soon. Some sort of post called a president. Whatever it is called, it is a position of immense power for the entire greater landmass of this part of the world. We must make sure that one of our own controls him when that happens. He has some sort of ailment that needs treatment, and as such he has come to seek it in this city. Our operatives have directed him to a local medical center that our forces have heavily infiltrated._

Visser Three's stalk eyes focused upon Temrash before he spoke next.

 _Temrash 252, you have proven yourself to be not only a skilled infiltrator, but an equally useful infestor. I've been keeping a close watch of your performance, and you have surpassed all of your assigned infestation quotas, more than thirty new controllers each month and almost a 70% voluntary host rate._

Tellion applied all of her mental capacities to keep her body entirely still when she heard that.

Voluntary controllers. What being in any state of reasonable mental thoughts would willingly surrender control of their bodies to a Yeerk? Tellion could never imagine herself, if she wasn't a Yeerk, doing such a thing. Freedom was far too precious of a dream to her to just give away. Visser Three continued to speak, bringing Tellion from her thoughts and back to the moment.

 _Temrash, I am promoting you to the rank of 114. I'm assigning you command of this operation. You will infest this 'governor' and use his position to help further solidify our forces hold over this region._

"Thank you Visser Three," Temrash (now 114) said. "I will make sure this operation succeeds."

 _We will see._ Visser Three said in lower, more neutral voice. He then focused his attention back to the screen, changing from the image of the native governmental figure to an image of a new city.

 _The next stage of this operation is equally vital. Once we have infested the governor and his closest subordinates, this team will move north to a new native city. From there, after your team established themselves, you will begin immediate operations to construct a new Yeerk Pool. Once this new base of operations has been established, you will utilize your new host in the governor to assist our front group 'The Sharing' in gaining official power and influence among both the local populace and the local governmental structures. With this new base established, there will be nothing that those Andalite bandits can do to impede the invasion. All of our intelligence estimates from prior encounters with them puts their total number at no more than a dozen. As such, they don't have forces to combat us on more than one front._

Visser Three's stalk eyes looked straight at Tellion. _You there Tellion 7854, the Kandrona Ray tech._

Tellion lifted herself in her seat and looked directly at the Visser. "Y…yes Visser Three?"

 _It is obvious that all of you will be cut off from this base's main Kandrona ray generator. This is where you shall prove yourself Tellion 7854. Your task will be to establish a temporary Yeerk Pool for our forces and keep the mini-Kandrona ray generator I'm sending the team with functioning. Once a base of operations has been founded and a supply line established, I will make plans to send more portable Kandrona ray generators, as well as more of our troops for increasing our controller base. Now, the large base Kandrona ray generators like the one we use here are in short supply, and there is far greater need for them on our many fronts. However, I managed to procure one of these generators to be brought here. It will be some time before it arrives, but once it does, I fully expect you begin the creation of a brand new primary Yeerk Pool in this new native city. This will be your moment Tellion 7854. I trust you fully understand the importance of this task I have given to you. The very success of this operation is relying upon you._

Tellion did fully understand what was being said to her.

"Yes Visser," Tellion said to her commander. "I won't fail you."

 _Oh, I know that you won't._ Visser Three said as all of his harsh eyes glared right at her. _Because if you do, you won't have the chance to fail me again._

And he said nothing else to her after that. He didn't need to. Tellion fully understood what Visser Three had meant by that. If she didn't do her duties exceptionally, if she appeared to have failed in any way, she would die. Whether by the Visser's hands or Temrash's, Tellion could only look forward to a very slow and agonizing death if she didn't perform as was expected of her.

The reality of it all finally hit Tellion like the drill that Tallaxia had used to try and kill her. The war, the one that she had tried so very hard to hide herself from, had finally found her. Now she was pulled into it, and there was no escape for her.

As she thought of this, Visser Three switched the screen to a new image. Tellion looked down at the portable screen in her tentacles. A young looking male native appeared on the surface.

 _Tellion 7854, this will be your new assigned host. This native is a personal assistant to the governor, so you and Temrash 114 will be able coordinate this operation without raising suspicions. He will be among the group that is coming in with the governor, so you will be assigned to infest him while Temrash is infesting the governor. As such, you will be under his direct command._

Tellion looked down at the image with a multitude of feelings. The first among them was a feeling of both sympathy and guilt, because she knew that very soon, she would be opening herself to an entirely new horrific expecience of having to steal away the freedom of yet one more being. She would continue to be a slave master to one more helpless soul. And Tellion would be the very first Yeerk to infest this poor native. She had no idea with how terrifying and agonizing experiences she would be faced with. Tellion didn't know if she would have the will, or desire, to try and make peace with this native. Or would she even be able to try, under the watchful eyes of Temrash 114.

Another thought crossed Tellion's mind, which was an unknown sensation that she felt with the idea of this new host clearly being a male. All of her hosts had been female, she saw herself as a female. To have to switch over to pretending to act like a male, felt incredibly strange to Tellion. She didn't know how she would be able to do that.

And just as that odd consideration passed through her mind, another, and even more horrifying realization crossed over her brain functions. With this new assignment…she was going to have to leave Tallaxia.

And whoever the next Yeerk was that infested Tallaxia would be exposed to all of her memories. Including the one of her letting the Andalite escape. Tellion's entire body froze with that thought. She didn't hear anymore of what Visser Three was saying about the operation, or whatever plans he had for her to play a part of them. The understanding of the fact that her life was now placed on an edge of oblivion, and it would only be a matter of time before her deepest secret would be discovered. Total, complete fear consumed Tellion. There was no escaping this fate. There was only two possible outcomes that she could forsee happening to her.

Either the new Yeerk would immediately report her to the higher Yeerk authorities and that would be the end of her, or…they would hold this knowledge over her as a way to manipulate their way to a position of higher rank, at least until they felt they had no further need to use leverage against Tellion. Which would likely end in her death.. Either way, life as Tellion had known it was well and truly over.

She was going to die. Far sooner than she would have dared to believe.

"Well, you'll get your wish Tallaxia. Soon enough I should be dead. I hope that brings you a little joy." Tellion whispered.

Tallaxia said nothing. She made no sign at all to acknowledge that she was even still alive. Faced with that lack of response, Tellion's head dipped in despair.

 _Tellion!_

Visser Three's roar sent a surge of fear racing through Tellion, she immediately sat at attention.

"Yes Visser Three!"

 _I said, in addition to the portable Kandrona ray, I'll also have a 10,000 liters of Yeerk Pool liquid shipped with Temrash's team. It will be your task to find a suitable location in the governmental facility you will be relocating to so that a viable Yeerk Pool can be established without drawing any unwanted attention to our forces. Remember, you all will only have three days once the operation begins._

"I will find a suitable place Visser Three." she assured him.

Visser Three's main eyes narrowed at her. _If I have to repeat myself again, I'll find another Kandrona Ray tech for this mission._

Tellion shrunk in her seat at the Visser's threat, as much as she could with her large Nahara body. Visser Three continued on with his briefing of the operation, explaining to each present Yeerk their new host body and assignment to Temrash 114's command. Tellion barely paid attention to any of it, only the parts that concerned her, more out of fear of Visser Three's wraith than any desire to succeed in her part of the mission.

Despite everything that was happening around her, Tellion felt as if she was all alone in a seemingly uncaring existence. She wished Tallaxia would talk to her, even if it was just to say that she was glad to know that Tellion would likely soon be dead. Yet there was still silence from Tallaxia. Maybe that was the best form of revenge that Tallaxia could give to her. To make her feel isolated and all alone before one way or another before Tellion was merited out her agonizing end. An end that she herself didn't doubt she somewhat deserved.

Just as she was thinking about these things, Visser Three snapped his tail blade, making a loud popping sound that brought Tellion back to the moment.

 _That is all._ He said. _Any additional information regarding this operation you will directly report to Temrash 114, he is now your commander. Any order he gives you is done with my direct approval._

After the Visser said this, Temrash 114 rose from his seat and addressed all of the assembled Yeerks. "Yes, I am now your commander. Don't disappoint me. It would be a pity to have to see your individual talents wasted from incompetence."

 _You would do well to save your pity for yourself if you fail in this mission Temrash._ Visser Three said in a dangerously low mental voice. _Remember, my patience is very limited._

Temrash turned to Visser Three and bowed respectfully again. "Of course I understand Visser Three. You have nothing to worry about, I succeed in this operation."

 _We will see._ Visser Three replied, his attention solely focused on Temrash for a moment before he turned it back to the rest of them. _The rest of you, make whatever final preparations that you need to prepare for this operation. I will have your commanders assign you the newer personel that will replace your present hosts. It will be your responsibility to prepare them to their assigned positions. You'll only have a few hours before the operation commences._

Temrash remained as he was, although Tellion could sense the tension that was rising among all that were present. Visser Three, either growing bored of Temrash's subtle insolence, or having far more pressing issues to deal with that the present operation, finally dismissed them all. Tellion waited until most of the others had left before finally deciding to make her exit.

She was about to move on to a new host, not by her own choosing, but still she was going to have to leave Tallaxia. And yet again, Tallaxia would be given another lower ranking Yeerk, passed over to be used yet again, as if she were nothing but a used tool. Tellion couldn't help but tighten the hundreds of tentacle ends of her four arms around themselves in anger. Tallaxia…was not a tool, not an object to be used by the Empire for their own ends. She was a living being, no different than Tellion, with her own dreams and hopes. And despite everything that had happened between them, Tellion wished for nothing more than to know that Tallaxia would feel the joy of freedom again before her life ended.

Tellion's only true regret in that moment, was knowing that she had failed in that effort.

"Tallaxia 7854." Tallaxia turned at the sound of her name being called. It was Temrash 114. "You didn't seem all that attentive at the meeting. I don't think I have to remind you that the very success of this operation is dependent upon you successfully keeping the new Yeerk pool functioning."

"Of course I understand." Tellion said.

"Good," he said. "because if you think that you have to fear failing Visser Three, then you don't know anything about me. And I will be directly in charge of your life."

"I never take my duties lightly." Tellion said to him.

Temrash 114 eyed her with great suspicion. Tellion didn't dare lower her guard around her newly appointed commander. Despite his young native face and charming personality, Tellion knew that a diabolical and sadistic Yeerk lay underneath. And he wouldn't hesitate to destroy her if he felt that she wouldn't accomplish in his task. And although she suspected that she didn't have long in her continued existence, that didn't mean that Tellion didn't want to have as much of that time as possible. Temrash eyed her suspiciously, but relinquished his harsh gaze after she sulked slightly before him. If anything, he seemed to revel in her fear of him.

After this brief exchange, both Tellion and Temrash heard two other controllers nearby talking among themselves.

"I still don't get why Visser Three chose him."

"I know," the other controller said. "Temrash claims to be one of the most successful infesters planet side, and yet he still has not manage to enslave his host's own family. That's the very first task of any infester. How could Temrash been chosen for such a vital mission when he can't even accomplish even the simplest of tasks?"

Temrash twisted his face ever so slightly to Tellion, the grin that he displayed could only be interpreted by Tellion as one that was completely sadistic. Almost equal to that of Visser Three and the expressions his Andalite face made when he was reveling in the torture of that scanner tech. After that moment of revealing to her who he truly was, Temrash quietly approached the two unsuspecting controllers. Neither was aware that he was even there until he was standing directly behind them. The two continued to speak to themselves as Temrash watched on, as well as Tellion.

After a few more brief exchanges, the two finally noticed Temrash. The fear that passed across both of their host faces was all too easy to read. As was Temrash's smug enjoyment of their fear of him.

"So I'm a terrible infester now, am I? Do you really think that I am so incompetent that I couldn't have enslaved my host's family if I wanted to?"

Neither of them answered him. Temrash took that as enough of an answer to his question.

"Did it ever occure to either of you two idiots that I purposefully didn't enslave my host's family to show Visser Three just how effective of an infiltrator I am?"

Stuttering gibberish was all that he got from the two of them.

"I have lived among them for well over a year now. Neither my host's parents, nor his little brother, the one that most admires and looks up to my host, had any suspicion that I wasn't their loving son or great big brother." Temrash said with a sinister laugh. "Not once in all that time did any of them even have the slightest inclination of who I really was."

Temrash closed his eyes and smiled as he changed the tone of his voice, Tellion thought that it was a mocking tone.

"Oh Tom." Temrash said both to himself and the other controllers. "How did you become such a sweet and caring boy? Helping out so much in your community and being an inspiration to younger kids."

"Hey Tom, I'll think about going to one of those Sharing meetings if you play a round of hoops with me. Don't want my big bro thinking he's going to always be better than me."

"How could you have gotten so big son? When did you turn into man all of a sudden? Thanks for spending that Saturday afternoon working on my car with me. We should really take it for a spin one weekend, maybe just cruise up the coast for a bit. Maybe you could even met some girls your age."

Temrash opened his eyes halfway, staring harshly at the pair of bewildered controllers.

"Still think that I'm not the right officer to command this operation?"

Their silence from his proclamation was all that Temrash needed to continue.

"So you both would do well to remember, that I am very skilled in everything that I set my tasks to. From this moment forth, you will both be answering to me. Any failure in your duties, even the slightest mistake, and I will end you both. You understand me?"

They both nodded their heads in agreement to him.

"Good…" Temrash said with a satisfactory tone in his voice.

His boyish face instantly twisted into one of an absolutely diabolical image.

"I better not ever hear either of you question my authority, ever again. Understood?"

The pair gave him another nod of approval. With that, Temrash patted the two on their shoulders, then roughly shoved them away. After a few fleeting stumbles, the pair of controller ran away. Temrash watched their flightly before turning back to Tellion.

"You see how easily it is to control others?" Temrash told her. "You would do well to remember how I handle subordinates, it will make things easier when you have bend others to your will Tellion."

"I'm just a low ranking Kandrona Ray tech, sir." Tellion told him. "I'm no leader."

"Yes, well, that may be true now." Temrash responded. "But once the new Yeerk Pool has been established, and if you succeed in your appointed tasks, I fully intend on recommending to Visser Three that you be appointed to head of the maintenance division of the new Yeerk Pool. It will be a big advancement from your present rank that the Visser has already granted you."

"Thank you Temrash." Tellion said, trying her best to make herself sound convincing. "I will make sure that I keep all of our people alive in this mission."

And that was the total truth. Although Tellion didn't desire for advancement of any real kind in the Empire, she also sought to keep her fellow Yeerks alive. Despite all of the evil that she had come to realize the Empire merited out upon countless beings, that still didn't give her the right to pass judgement upon her kind and what they did as part of the Empire. Tellion had only spoken intimately about her true feelings to Aftran, but Tellion secretly thought that there were many more Yeerks like herself. Just desiring to become more than what they had been born as but had no way of escaping the fate they had been born into, and were too afraid to reveal their true feelings out of the threat of severe punishment or death.

She…hoped that she truly wasn't the only one.

"Glad to know that." Temrash said, breaking Tellion's train of thought. "I fully believe that under my guidance you'll exceed the Visser's expectations. Get your personal affairs in order, and have the equipment you need sent to the acquisitions office. Once you've done that, get yourself to the pool, you'll be expected to prepare your replacement Yeerk to inhabit the Nahara's body. We'll be moving forward with the operation tomorrow night."

 _My Nahara has a name!_ Tellion wanted to shout at Temrash. _It's Tallaxia!_

But she remained silent. Just like she always did.

Temrash smirked, and left her. Once he was gone, Tellion went back to her quarters to prepare herself for the journey. Another advantage of being a low ranking Yeerk, Tellion had very little that she could call her own. It made packing a very quick affair.

"Tellion 7854."

Tellion instantly recognized that voice. She rotated her top pair of eyes behind her, and saw Aftran standing in the doorway to her quarters.

"Hello again Aftran 945."

Aftran looked off to her side. "Actually Tellion, it's 942 now. I've been promoted to head of my guard squad. I also have my pool brother Estril 731 reassigned to my unit, so I'll have my hands full with him."

"Well aren't we both going places?" Tellion said in a mocking voice as she stuffed the last tool into her work pouch.

"I don't really care about the promotion." she said, the conviction clear in her tone. "I just heard about your new assignment."

"And?"

"Tellion, you've never been outside of the Pool Ship and here." Aftran voiced her concern. "You have no idea what it's like out there. And you've never been in a native body before. And being under Temrash's command…you're not ready for this mission."

"Well that doesn't really matter now, does it?" Tellion joked. "The Visser has ordered, and I must obey."

"I know that, but…" Aftran's voice simply died away before she finished.

Tellion turned fully around to face her only friend.

"Aftran, I don't have much time. If you have to say something, then just say it."

Aftran stepped closer to her and stared right into all of her eyes.

"Get out of this assignment."

"What?"

"Get out of it. I don't know how, just find away."

"Aftran, I can't just…"

Aftran grasped her upper pair of arms. "Tellion, I don't know how or why, but I have a terrible feeling about this mission you're going on."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know!" she blurted out. "I just have this feeling that…I won't ever see you again if you go."

That was probably going to be true, Tellion thought. One way or the other. But, she wearily thought, if something was going to have to happen to her, then she didn't want Tallaxia to suffer in anyway because of her. Tallaxia was truly innocent in all of this mess, she didn't deserve to be punished along with her.

Tellion gently wrapped her hundreds of tentacle ends of her top pair of arms around Aftran's powerful hands. She twisted her face tentacles into a smile that only a Naharan could make.

"Aftran, no matter what happens, you'll always be the only one that I ever considered a friend. We both have our duties to fulfill, but that doesn't mean that we should give up on our dreams. I know that you desire to be more than what our people have become, just like me. You still let fear hold you back, but I hope that someday you find the courage to do what we both know is right. That's why you are my friend. Aftran, we're kindred spirits. Nothing, not time or space, even death, can break our friendship. Don't ever forget that."

Aftran sighed wearily, shutting her sharp Hork-Bajir eyes and leaning her head forward. Although it was primarily a Hork-Bajir sign of affection and friendship, Tellion rotated her eyes away from her friend and pressed her soft forehead against Aftran's own solid and bladed head.

"We'll meet again." Aftran whispered to Tallaxia. "No matter what happens, even if it's after death."

"Even after death." Tallaxia repeated.

Once the moment of silence between the two had passed, they parted. Aftran still kept her sharp eyes fixated on Tellion. "I'm going to put in a request for a transfer to your unit the moment you've established a new base to the north. It's bad enough that I have to watch over Estril, but you are completely helpless without me."

Tellion smiled again in her Naharan way. "I think you're more right that even you realize. I wouldn't expect anything less from you Aftran."

Aftran stepped aside, clearing her path to the doorway. "Come on. I'll at least walk with you to the Pool."

Tellion took her tools and exited her quarters with Aftran. As they took the long walk to the Yeerk Pool, the very last walk that Tellion would do as a Naharan, her thoughts were on things other than her upcoming mission and well-being.

"Aftran." she said, still keeping her focus on what was ahead of her.

"Yes?"

"I need you to do something for me, before I leave the Yeerk Pool for my new mission."

"Sure, anything you want. I'll do what I can."

Tellion rotated all of her eyes that were on the side of her head that faced Aftran.

"I want you…to look after Tallaxia. Please make sure that the Yeerk that takes her over after me is kind to her, the way I tried to be. You're the only one that I can ask this of."

"I don't really know what I can do…"

"Please Aftran. She's…special to me. And I don't want her being used like she is just another tool."

Aftran lost her stride at that statement. In truth, Tellion had hoped that Tallaxia would say something to her with that proclamation. But once again, she remained silent to Tellion's words. That still hurt, but Tellion tried her very best to understand why Tallaxia hadn't spoken. She just, ironically, hoped that Tallaxia would eventually understand why Tellion still considered her a friend.

"You…really care about your host, don't you?" Aftran said almost disbelievingly. "No one's ever thought of something so foolish."

"I guess that makes me the biggest fool in the entire Empire." Tellion said as they approached the demarcation pier. "And I have no regrets with that. If only more of us had the courage to try and care for our hosts instead of being slave masters…who knows what the future could hold for our kind."

"I would say that you're crazy. But I know you too well Tellion. I know that you always follow your spirit, even if it goes against everything that we've ever known." Aftran said. "And, I promise that I'll make sure that Tallaxia is treated well. Her new controller won't be cruel to her, not unless they want to deal with me."

"Thank you Aftran." Tellion told her. "I hope that we'll meet again soon."

Aftran cracked her beak like mouth to say something else, but they were intrupted by a native controller with a computation device similar to the one that Tellion used to monitor the pool.

"Tellion 7854?" he demanded more than asked of her.

"Yes?"

"Prepare for demarcation of your current host." he said, not even bothering to look up from the screen he was reading. "Place your personal equipment in the storage bin over there. It will be transported to your new location. You'll have one hour to debrief and prepare your replacement before transportation."

Tellion did as she was instructed, putting away her equipment before looking back to Aftran.

"Take care of yourself Tellion." she said, making no effort to hide the worry in her voice. "I hope we can see each other again soon."

"So do I." Tellion said. "And remember our promise."

"I won't forget." Aftran assured her.

With those last goodbyes, Tellion took her place on the demarcation pier. She watched as Aftran reluctantly walked away to rejoin in whatever duties she had assigned for her. Once her only friend was gone, Tellion had nothing left to do but wait her turn to leave Tallaxia. There was such little time as she moved closer and closer to the end of the pier, but it was enough for Tellion to think. And to feel regret.

"Tallaxia." she whispered in a voice so faint she barely heard it herself. "I know you can hear me. This…may be the last time that we ever can speak to each other."

Silence greeted Tellion, as it always had recently. She still wasn't dissuaded.

"I don't care if you don't want to speak to me. I know that I'll never truly understand what your life has been like since my people stole your life, but I just wanted to let you know that…I'm glad that I was assigned to you. You let me feel your pain and sadness. But you also showed me something."

Tellion stepped to the end of the pier. Her time was up. She had to speak her mind now, or Tallaxia would never know the truth. The group of Hork-Bajir guards at the end flanked both of her sides, ready to grasp Tallaxia the moment Tellion left her.

"She's a voluntary controller." Tellion told them. "You don't have to restrain her, she won't fight once I'm gone."

None of them bothered to question Tellion. Why would they? It's not like Tallaxia had any hope of escaping even if she wanted to. Without any more interference, Tellion knelt at the edge of the pier and tilted her head to the side, preparing to leave Tallaxia once and for all.

"Tallaxia, you showed me something better than I have ever known. Before I meet you, I was just another Yeerk seeking advancement and status in the Empire. I never knew anything else. But Tallaxia, you showed me what joy was. And hope."

Tellion began to retreat her control tendrils from Tallaxia's nerve ends, preparing herself to leave. But she still had one last thing to say before they parted ways.

"And now I hope too." Tellion said, making no attempt to hide her sorrow from Tallaxia. "I hope…that one day you will get your freedom back. I hope that you can return home and be with your family. And that you never have to know suffering again for the rest of your days. I'm just sorry that I couldn't do more for you. I'm sorry that we couldn't be friends."

Saying what she needed to, Tellion released her final links to Tallaxia's brain and began crawling out of her head. Almost all of her senses were gone again. No vision, no hearing, no smell, or taste. It was almost like being placed in a prison herself. A prison that the cosmic fates had cruelly placed upon her and all of her kind, forcing them to become something hideous and evil in order to escape that prison. Just as Tellion felt herself exiting Tallaxia's ear canal, she was aware that she still had one final tendril that was connected to Tallaxia's mind that somehow she had forgotten to withdraw. As she began to pull that one last link to Tallaxia, she heard her mental cry.

 _Tell…_

She called her name. She was calling her name!

 _Tallaxia!_ Tellion screamed.

Too late. Far too late. Tellion, for the briefest of moments, was weightless as she fell into the Yeerk Pool. The moment she splashed beneath the surface, Tellion knew that she was forever separated from Tallaxia. She swam back to the surface, but it was to no avail. She couldn't see or hear anything anymore. Tellion was, literally, blind and deaf to what transpired just above her. For one fleeting moment, Tellion dared to try and think of a way to get back to Tallaxia. Crawl up the pier legs, find Tallaxia's large feet that were impossible to miss, and work her way back up her body and into her mind again. Just so that she could know what it was that Tallaxia was trying to say to her.

Then the moment passed, and Tellion knew that it was a fool's hope. She couldn't possibly get back to Tallaxia. They were no doubt already dragging her down the pier to be held until the next Yeerk was ready to take her over, like the bag of flesh that the Empire saw her and all other hosts as.

 _Damn the Empire!_ Tellion screamed in her own little mind world. _Damn us for what we do!_

None of the hundreds of Yeerks swimming all around her took any notice of Tellion as she sank to the floor of the pool. In the natural Yeerk state, the sense of touch was greater for Yeerks than any living being that was known. She could feel the ripples of each Yeerk that swam past her, a sort of sight without sight. And not a single one of them bothered to pay any mind to a single Yeerk that didn't bother swimming and happily sunk into the muck at the very bottom of the pool.

Tellion let herself settle into the sediment of the bottom, surrounded by filth and waste of the countless Yeerks that inhabited the pool. This was the place that she belonged in. Because she felt just as low as she currently was. It was where Tellion wished that she could have stayed, and just forget everything. Forget about the Empire, the pain that she had inflected upon Tallaxia, and forget that she was trapped by a cruel twist of fate.

Tellion had never asked to be born, much less born as a Yeerk. A creature just as intelligent as any other sentient being, but forced to be a slave master in order to be anything more than what the fates had ordained her to be.

As Tellion wallowed in her own personal sorrow, her palp antennae detected the electrical impulses of the natural Yeerk speak flowing through the liquid around her. A Yeerk was asking for Tellion, by her own name.

This Yeerk was the one. The one that would take over Tallaxia in her place. Although she didn't want to speak to her fellow Yeerk kin, Tellion knew that this Yeerk would take over Tallaxia, whether she spoke to them or not. And they would be the one that ultimate decided if she lived or died soon. Although she wanted to continue to wallow in her own misery, Tellion's desire to preserve her own life, and to protect Tallaxia, spurred her on to rise from the disgusting sediment of the floor of the Yeerk Pool to confront this new Yeerk. She swam over to the Yeerk asking for her and sent an impulse message directly to them.

 _I am Tellion._

The Yeerk approached Tellion, placing their palp receptors against her own so that they could communicate in private.

 _Hello Tellion._ This new Yeerk said to her. _I am Illim 9876. I've been assigned to replace your host._

 _My host…_ Tellion spoke, trying to hold back her anger.

 _A Nahara._ Illim said. _I've been researching them. They're not very useful as hosts, but I'm sure it's better than being assigned to a Taxxon. I'm really excited, this will be my first host since my time training in a Gedd. But I've been told it's just a higher form of training. I was supposed to be assigned to a native, but there aren't enough available right now. So I've been reassigned to your Nahara. They're similar enough to the natives in physical form that I'll have enough practice in the basic movements that I'll be ready when I'm reassigned to a native host. Any advice that you can offer me about preparing for this new host would be most helpful. I'm expecting this training experience to be most enjoyable with this new platform._

 _She's not a platform!_ Tellion roared through her palp connectors into Illim's. _And she's not just bag of flesh to be used for training. 'Her' name is Tallaxia! And she is a living being, with her own thoughts and feelings, just like us!_

 _Wha…what are you talking about?_ Illim stammered, clearly taken off guard by Tellion's harsh words.

Tellion knew that she was treading down a dangerous path. Talking like this to a Yeerk that she didn't even know was a jeopardy that she likely never would have taken before. But, still reeling from losing Tallaxia when she had likely been on the verge of forgiving her, and knowing that Illim would likely turn her over to the higher Yeerk authorities the moment he accessed Tallaxia's memories was enough to give Tellion the strength to say what she felt needed to be said.

 _Illim._ Tellion spoke with her voice lowering. _These beings, the hosts that our Empire enslaves, they are all sentient creatures. We steal their lives just so we can uplift our own. And that's not right._

 _I…why do you talk like this?_ Illim questioned. _We are Yeerks. It's in our nature to be masters of those lesser than us._

The breaking in his voice told Tellion that he was reciting something told to him, rather than something that he really believed. Tellion wasn't dissuaded by his words.

 _That's the lies they told you in training, the nonsense that the authorities shaped and molded your thoughts into what they wanted it to be. None of the hosts are our lesser. They may have told you Illim that you will be a master, but all you really are is a slave master. You will be lording over a prisoner that will be with you every moment that you hold dominion over their body._

 _This is foolish nonsense._ Illim countered, but again Tellion detected the faltering in his voice. _How could any host have that affect on us?_

 _You'll understand…when you first enter their mind, and hear their cries of pain at what you've done to them._ Tellion warned him.

 _What is this foolish drivel that you are prattling on about?_ Illim demanded. _I'm supposed to be receiving my training advice on my new host from you Tellion 7854, not being given a pointless lecture on how our hosts are no different than us. So I should try to be friends with those that I can subjugate at my whim?_

Illim's last question was spoken as more of a mockery to her attempts to reason with him rather than a curiosity.

 _It couldn't hurt you to try Illim._ Tellion told him. _I think…no I believe, that if more of us tried to coexist with our hosts instead of trying to rule them, all of our lives would be better. And this war may not even be necessary._

 _I should report you for saying these things. It borders on sedition!_ Illim threatened.

 _You could, if that's what you feel you have to. I expect I'll soon be dead anyway._ Tellion said. _But just remember Illim 9876. No matter what you've been told or made to believe, don't ever stop believing that there isn't a better way for you and whoever you will eventually be made to control. You don't have to be a slave master. There can be a peace between us and our hosts._

 _I'm done talking to you._ Illim said, his voice more unsure than ever. You're useless for advice. _I'll just take your host when they assign me to them._

 _Tallaxia is special to me._ Tellion told him. _Please be kind to her while you are assigned to her Illim. Kindness is something that she's had so very little of since our people stole her freedom._

Illim's response was a low growl before he broke their palp connection and swam off. Tellion didn't bother sending any further signals to him. She didn't know if anything she said to Illim would have any effect on his decision once he entered Tallaxia, but at least Tellion knew that she could face whatever would befall her with a clear conscious. There would be no regrets before her end.

With nothing left to do, Tellion floated around in the Yeek Pool. Swimming aimlessly as her body was saturated in Kandrona rays, Tellion avoided all groups of her kind as they swam and communicated with each other. She didn't want to speak to anymore of them. Tellion wished it could have just stayed that way for her. Swimming about carelessly forever. Then the electrical command radiated through the Pool's liquids, received by her palp receptors.

 _Tellion 7854, report for transportation. Tellion 7854, report for transportation._

 _This is it._ Tellion thought to herself. _Goodbye home, goodbye to my life._

She swam over to the spot in the pool where she could feel a small group of fellow Yeerks were gathered and were being scooped up out of the pool. Tellion quietly waited her turn until she was finally picked up out of the pool and placed into some kind of enclosed container with many other Yeerks.

 _Goodbye Tallaxia._ Tellion thought as she felt the container start to move.


	4. A New Destiny

Tellion swam about in the utter darkness that was her true state. She had little understanding of where she had been taken, only to what she could assume was her final destination. Tellion remembered being transported somewhere, being swished and thrashed about against so many other Yeerks in the cramped conditions of the small container she had been placed in with the rest. She had been smashed and squished into all the rest for such a long time that Tellion felt as if she were going to be crushed by the masses of her Yeerk kin. Then, just when Tellion thought that she would lose all sense of sanity from the weight of her breather pressing all around her, they were all ejected from the small confines of the container and into a larger body of liquid.

It didn't take Tellion long to establish the circumference of her temporary home. It was only a fraction of the size of Yeerk Pool that she had called home, but it was large enough for her to swim around without constantly bumping into all the other Yeerks that were in this small pool.

This had to be the mini-Yeerk pool that had been established in the basement of the healing facility that her team had been transported to. Then that had to mean that their operation was nearing its final stages. Tellion had been briefed by Temrash about how she would acquire her new host.

The assistant to the 'governor' would be given a mild sedative while the 'governor' was undergoing surgery. Temrash would immediately infest him after the healing procedure, and Tellion would also infest his assistant right after once the sedative had taken affect. Tellion had listened in silence as Temrash had laid out his plans for how they would proceed once both subjects had been infested. She didn't say anything to Temrash, opting instead to let him prattle on about his grandiose plans of self-fulling bravado as she tried to prepare herself to receive her new host. Her only true concern left in her life was keeping her Yeerk kin alive as long as her betrayal of the Empire could remain hidden, and the helpless soul whose life she was soon to take away.

Tellion didn't know how she was going to be able to do this again. Stealing Tallaxia's freedom had been harsh enough for her once she had truly come to understand what it was that she had done to that poor being. But now having to take away that same freedom from an unsuspecting native…Tellion was having great difficulty in dealing with that. She thought about trying to reason with this new host, maybe even offer him the freedom that she had once tried with Tallaxia, but Tellion had immense doubts that she would be able to find a peace with this new host. Likely, he would do what Tallaxia had tried to do once she had surrendered control over her and take both their lives.

Tellion hated this existence. She doubted that her new slave would ever be able to understand that she herself was just as much a prisoner of her fate as she would soon make him. Still, no matter how trapped Tellion felt, she knew that somehow, even under the close and dangerous eyes of Temrash, she would have to try and find a way to make her new host's enslavement as painless as was possible. It was the least that she could do for him. And it was all that Tellion felt that she could do herself. Even though she felt more encaged than she had ever been since her first day of self-awareness, Tellion refused to surrender who she knew that she truly was. Even if it meant endangering herself.

 _Tellion!_

Tellion heard Temrash's sharp command through the liquid and into her palp receptors. Knowing that he requested her, Tellion swam over to Temrash and connected her palps to his.

 _Tellion._ Temrash said _. I've just received word that the Governor has arrived. He is being prepped for surgery as we speak. Now, the plan is that I will be the first to leave for infestation, and you will follow shortly after. Once we have infested the Governor and his assistant, the rest of the team will begin assimilating the Governor's staff. After the infestation, I expect you to meet with our support personnel and make preparations for transportation of the Kandrona Ray generator and the pool liquid to the Governor's residence._

 _As you command Temrash._ Tellion said, hiding her own distatste for his total lack of regard for what they were about to do to a bunch of unsuspecting victims.

Once he had apparently satisfied his own ego, Temrash broke the palp connection between them and swam away. Tellion didn't hesitate to go in the opposite direction. She wanted to be as far away from Temrash as was physically possible for as long as she could manage.

After he was gone, Tellion opted to just swim about aimlessly. It wasn't like there was anything else that she could do to escape the fate that she had been entrapped in. Time stretched on and on for Tellion, as it always had when she was in her natural Yeerk form. All Tellion could do was sit by and silently wait for her destiny to consume her. A destiny that she had never desired.

 _Tellion 7854, report for infestation_. The command range out through the entire confines of the mini-Yeerk Pool. _Tellion 7854, report for infestation._

Tellion stopped swimming when she heard that. This couldn't be right. Temrash was the supposed to be the first to report for infestation. Not her. But the command had come through, and she had to acknowledge the order of the superiors.

Tellion swam up to the surface of the pool, doing her best to block out Temrash's shouts about how absurd it was that he wasn't going first for infestation and that he would make whoever messed up the infestation roster pay dearly for their incompetence. Tellion didn't respond to his cries. They were pointless. It wasn't like he wasn't going to be the one infesting the governor just because he hadn't been assigned first. And she needed to focus on what was about to happen.

And sadly, that was her imminent enslavement of an unsuspecting sentient being. When Tellion reached the surface, she paused for just the briefest of moments to collect herself before she felt something scoop her up from the pool and herself being placed into some kind of container. Once safely enclosed in the container, Tellion was alone again with nothing to keep her company but her own thoughts and worries.

This was it. She was about to embark on her journey once again to becoming a new slave master to a new host. And Tellion wanted nothing more than to just vanish from existence. She found herself dreading the coming screams of terror and the agonizing wails of suffering of a poor spirit being made a prisoner in their own body. She was terrified herself at the thought of having to endure those horrific emotions again.

Tellion was tossed about in the liquid of the container as she was clearly being carried to her destination. Once again, time stretched out for her as she kept hitting into the metal sides.

 _I wish they would just hurry this up,_ Tellion thought to herself, _this is getting very uncomfortable._

Just as those words passed through her mind, the pace of the movement quickened. So much so that Tellion was roughly slammed into the sides of the container with such ferocity that she was almost afraid that she would be turned into Yeerk mush long before she was even given the chance to infest her designated host.

 _Ow! What's happening!?_ She screeched to herself as once again her whole squishy body was smashed against the metal side.

Then, just as quickly as it had come, the container became completely still. Tellion herself tumbled around several times inside the liquid as she tried to let her body slowly wear off the effects of gravitational forces and physics that had tried to flatten her.

Once she had righted her sense of balance with gravity, Tellion swam to the top of the container. Strangely, it was still closed. She stretched out her palp connecters and felt the surface of the lid. It wiggled slightly from her touch, but it remained enclosed.

She had to be at the destination point. Soon enough, one of the controllers at the facility would open the lid to the container, take her out, and place her against the ear canal of her new host. And that would be it. She would be entrapped in her destiny once again.

Tellion, despite all her desires to be something better, would be a slave master again.

Tellion let herself sink back into the depths of the container, hating herself more than ever for daring to be so ignorant. It was absolutely foolish of her to desire for something better than the existence she had become constrained in. Hope was such a silly thing to want. She never should have dared to ever try and believe than there could be anything better for her.

 **You should never give up hope.**

Tellion leapt from the bottom of the container, startled by the sudden voice that had come from seemingly nowhere.

 _What…_ she started to speak, but instantly lost all coheasion of thoughts.

 **Hello…Tellion 7854.**

There that voice was again. It was the strangest thing that Tellion had ever experienced. It reminded her vaguely of Visser Three's telepathic words, only this was different. Far different. These words didn't just echo through her mind, it was as if they were coming from both inside her and all around her at the same time. It was very, very disturbing for her.

 _Who said that!_ She cried. _How do you know my name?_

 **Who I am is of very little importance to you at this moment.** The disembodied voice echoed out to her. **As for you next question, let's just say that I am someone…who likes to watch things.**

 _Where are you?_ Tellion demanded. _How are you speaking to me?_

 **I'm talking to you the same way that any sentient being would speak to another. As for where I am, well, let's just say that I am everywhere…and nowhere at the same time.**

 _That doesn't make any sense._ Tellion stated.

 **It does for one such as myself.** The mysterious voice said. **But for one like yourself Tellion, it is something that it far beyond your comprehension.**

 _If I'm so insignifigant, then why are you speaking to me right now?_ Tellion asked.

 **Like I said, I watch many things, across distance and time far beyond anything you could even begin the fathom. Sometimes, things catch my attention that warrants a closer look. And you, Tellion, have caught my attention.**

 _But why me?_ Tellion asked. _I'm not anyone important. I'm just a low level tech that everyone orders around for their own personal amusement._

 **Tellion, one's position in life is not a factor in their determination of greatness.** The voice said to her. **It is their actions that make one great. And your actions have caused me to pay closer attention to you Tellion.**

 _What actions are you talking about?_ Tellion asked.

 **I think you should already know the answer to that question.**

 _No,_ Tellion said. _I don't._

 **Tellion, you don't seem to realize how truly unique you are among your people. You alone have done what no others have dared to do. Back when your home at the Yeerk Pool was attacked, you showed mercy on an enemy that you had been told your entire life needed be destroyed without the slightest trace of compassion. You saved the life of an enemy, at the risk of your own. And among your fellow Yeerks, you've dared to enact a revolutionary strain of comprehension, a possibility of peaceful coexistence between Yeerks and their hosts instead of forceful enslavement. You've planted seeds of thought into both your dear friend Aftran and young Illim's minds, seeds that may very well grow into something greater than any of you could ever begin to imagine.**

Tellion felt herself sink to the bottom of the container. Was she really that important? Had she really done so much that was beyond her realm of understanding? Tellion didn't really even know at the moment.

 **But above all else,** the voice said. **You did what none of your kind have ever dared to do. You gave freedom back to your host. Against everything that you had ever been told and known, you alone, among countless Yeerks across the vast space of time, dared to do something that you knew deep inside you was the right thing to do.**

 _For all the good that did me._ Tellion said wearily. _Tallaxia didn't accept my gift. She tried to kill herself, and me._

 **Can you really blame her? She has never known anything except sadistic cruelty from your kind since the day Tallaxia lost her freedom. How could Tallaxia believe that your intentions for her were anything but noble?**

 _Enough of this pointless banter!_ Tellion cried, wanting desperately to change the subject. _Why are you speaking to me? What do you want from me?_

 **You've always felt that you were trapped in your own destiny as that of a Yeerk. And I wanted to change your destiny Tellion, because you truly deserve something better than what you were fated for. But unfortunately, that change couldn't come without a price…**

 _My destiny…_ Tellion thought, _What are you talking about?_

 **I don't know if you are ready to accept the full weight of the truth Tellion. It is not one to be taken lightly.**

 _Tell me!_ she cried out. _I want to know what is going on! What is my destiny?_

A long, weary sigh echoed all through the entire enclose case. Tellion didn't know that that meant, but she was sure that it wasn't entirely good.

 **Very well, I suppose it is only fair that you know the full truth.** The voice said. **I wanted to change your destiny because…**

There was a very long moment of silence. That single moment was enough to make Tellion feel as if she were going to lose her very mind. If she hadn't already lost it, since she was speaking to a voice that had no body.

 **Tellion,** the voice spoke her name out slowly, and carefully. **Tonight…you were destined to die.**

Tellion stopped moving when she heard that. She had suspected her life to soon end, one way or another, but to hear that this was to truly be her last day of existence…

If she were in a host body, the impact of that statement would have no doubt taken her breath away. But she was in her natural state, and didn't have lungs. All she could do was feel her squishy body become as motionless as fabricated metal.

 _Me?_ she asked almost disbelieving her own words. _Die? What…how?_

 **How do you think Tellion? The 'Andalite Bandits'. The ones that have been causing so much trouble for your forces on this world. Despite your Visser's careful attempts at secrecy, they have discovered the plan to infest the governor. At this very moment, they are attacking the small Yeerk Pool that you were just in. Soon enough, every Yeerk in that pool will be dead. Although, I believe that the one you know as Temrash 114 may yet survive, but I suspect that his days will soon be numbered.**

 _Then I was…it was supposed to be me also? Today was supposed to be my final day of life?_

 **Yes. Just another casualty in this seemingly endless conflict that your people started.**

 _My people?_ Tellion said. _It was the Andalites that first attacked! They were the ones that came to our world to enslave us._

 **Come now Tellion.** the voice said. **You pride yourself on being one that thinks differently than the rest of your kind, surely you must know not to believe everything that you are told.**

 _Like being told things from a mysterious voice that has no body?_ Tellion questioned.

A faint, almost amusing chuckle echoed all around her from that statement.

 **You are truly unique Tellion. That is why I intervened to spare you.**

 _I still don't understand how you did that._

 **It was far easier than you think. There was a…slight power surge through the building not long ago. It distracted the infestation clerk while they were entering names into the roster. As you no doubt know, Temrash was supposed to go first among your group. But with that minor distraction, your name was placed over Temrash's. It's not suprising that the mistake wasn't caught. After all, both of your names are very similar.**

 _But you said that altering my destiny would come at a price._ Tellion said. _What is that price?_

 **Ha ha ha, you're perceptive as always. Like I told you Tellion, you're unique. That's why I wanted to save you.**

 _So then tell me why you did it._

 **Very well.** The bodiless voice said. **My intervention to save you is part of a wager, a very small wager, between myself and another.**

 _My life…_ Tellion said. _Is just a wager?_

 **As I said, it is a tiny wager between ones such as us, but completely cosmic in scale for one such as yourself. For your existence is almost minuscule in comparison between ours. Of course, I hope you don't take that in a condescending way. It's merely a statement of what is.**

 _But why am I so important?_ Tellion demanded, feeling herself becoming lost in the magnitude of what she was being drawn into.

 **Because you are part of this wager Tellion.** The voice told her. **You see, this other and myself, we believe that it will be on this world that the fate of the war between your people and the Andalites will ultimately be decided. The other…he believes that should the Yeerk Empire prevail, then your kind will spread out across all of the known galaxy, consuming and enslaving all sentient life. The Yeerks will be the harbingers of untold pain and suffering upon countless billions of innocent lives, an era of darkness that the cosmos have never before fathomed. Because he believes that all Yeerks are twisted, vile, and cruel beyond any trace of a redeeming trait.**

Tellion wanted to refute what this voice was telling her, to proclaim that such a statement was a complete and utter lie. But with everything that she had experienced throughout her entire life, and the suffering that she herself had inflected upon others, Tellion didn't know how believe that claim wasn't true.

As if having peered into her very thoughts, the voice responded to Tellion without her saying anything.

 **But, I believe that he is wrong. I believe that there is light in every being, even Yeerks. And you have helped to show that Tellion. That is why you have been chosen by us. You, willingly, will decide which of us is right in our bet.**

 _You said willingly._ Tellion said. _You speak as if I have a choice in all of this._

 **You always have a choice Tellion.** The voice said. **Every being has free will, a right to choose for themselves.**

 _So what will be my choice?_

 **Soon enough, you will see.** He said. **I'm sure you noticed that the lid to your container wasn't firmly secured. Well, in a very short time, there will be a minor explosion that will vibrate all through this facility. It will be very minute, but it will be just enough to tip over the container that you are in, and the lid will come off. When that happens, your moment will of choice will come Tellion.**

Tellion remained motionless as she heard these words that felt as if they had somehow grasped ahold around her little squishy body.

 **You can choose to remain protected inside the canister. Eventually, one of your forces will find you and take you back to the main Yeerk Pool, you may even be allowed to return to Tallaxia and your old duties, after all, it's not your fault that the events of today have transpired. Visser Three may even forgive you for this being no failure on your part. You can return to the life that you've always known, and wait for this war to consume you, one way or the other. Or…**

That pause in between words felt like the longest that Tellion had ever known in her whole existence. It was enough to drive her mad.

 **You can leave the container, and take a chance at true freedom for yourself Tellion. However, I must warn you, freedom will have its price. If you choose to follow that path, then you will sever all ties with the Empire forever. You will have to survive on your own, and never again return to anything that you've ever known. To do so would be certain death for you Tellion.**

So…this was her choice? Tellion thought. Stay in the miserable, wretched existance that was being a part of the Yeerk Empire, living in constant fear of death hanging over her. Or take a chance at something else, and most likely die for the effort as well. Tellion didn't know what course of action seemed right to her. As she tried to think this through, the voice interrupted her.

 **Your time is almost up Tellion. The moment of choice is fast approaching. I cannot make this decision for you. The choice is, and always will be, yours to make. Stay in the life that you've always known, or take a chance at true freedom Tellion. And should you choose that second path, you could perhaps save more than just your own life. Then we will see…**

 _See?_ Tellion questioned. _I still don't understand any of this. What could you, what could anyone, possibly ever hope to see in small, insignificant Yeerk like me?_

The next words that were spoken rocked Tellion to the inner foundation of her very spirit, for they were words that not only encompassed her own existence, but placed a burden of impossible magnitude upon Tellion.

 **We'll see if even in its darkest hour…your species is not beyond redemption.**

 _What?_ Tellion said. _I…but…_

 **Make your choice Tellion.** the voice said, the last words growing fainter as if the presence was drifting away.

Tellion called out to the presence, the voice, whatever it was. And her answer was nothing. Tellion didn't feel anything physical change in her surroundings, but she still somehow just knew that whatever it was that had been speaking to her had gone away. There was nothing but the black stillness of her present state of being.

Had all that been real?

It seemed real enough. But what would Tellion really know? She might very well be going crazy from the constant state of fear that she had found her life to have become. Tellion only knew that she just didn't want to be a part of any of this. She just wanted to be free of it all.

As she thought of this, a vibration rumbled all through the walls of the container that she was in. It rocked the small metal tube back and forth, tossing Tellion about as if some other force, maybe the one she thought she had been speaking to, were trying to kill her. Tellion smashed into the side of the container again, feeling pain rush all through her frail Yeerk body. Then she felt the inertia of the container falling over.

 _What? NNNOOO!_ Tellion screamed as she felt all of the liquid she was in thrash about and tip over. Then for the briefest of moments, gravity lost all of its sense of hold over her, and she was completely weightless as the container dropped from where ever it had been placed.

BAM!

Tellion was rocked as the container struck against a surface, and the lid flipped off. Tellion lashed out with her palp receptors, wildly grasping at the smooth cylindrical surface of her container as the liquid flushed out the opening, threatening to wash her away as well. Tellion was pushed towards the opening by the sheer force of the draining inertia. It was only the final loss of the liquid draining that brought her to a stop, just as she felt the end of her body slipping over the edge. The moment Tellion's squishy body ceased dragging, she took a moment to try and collect herself as the realization of it all struck her.

It had happened.

The container had fallen. And the lid had popped open. Just as the voice had said.

She hadn't just imagined the voice. It was real.

It was all real!

Then that meant…

This was the moment that the voice had spoken of. This was the instant in her life where she was going to have to make a choice.

Stay in the life that she had always known, a slave of perpetual circumstances. Or take a chance at something else, true freedom. What that fabled freedom could possibly be for her, Tellion just couldn't fathom.

Stay or go?

Stay or go?

Stay or GO?

What could she do? As Tellion tried to make some sort of sense from all of this, a memory flashed inside her mind. A memory she had just lived, but felt as if it had happened in another life. It was her last moments of interaction between herself and young Illiam. Tellion heard the words she spoke to Illiam, as if she were speaking them to herself.

 _Don't ever stop believing that there isn't a better way for you._

Hearing her own words, Tellion's desire for her, and for all Yeerks, to become something better than the enslaving forced that they had transformed themselves into, pushed her over the edge. Her decision had been made.

She WANTED something better than her life. And Tellion was willing to risk her own life to gain that.

Tellion pushed herself around to face the opening of the container. She felt about with her palp receptors. They ran across the entire circular edge, but felt nothing beyond that. There was just empty air. She had no idea where she was, or how far she would fall if she were to push herself out of the container.

Damn how Tellion wished that, just for a single moment, she had the gift of sight again. Just to know if leaving this container was a safe course to follow. For all she knew, Tellion would plummet thirty meters to a hard ground and be smashed into a grisly pulp if she dared to go forth.

But, maybe that was the point. Maybe…she had to take a 'leap' of faith as a sign of her willingness to want this new life to that mysterious voice that had no body.

 _There's nothing left for me in this life_. Tellion thought. _I won't be a slave master anymore. I want to be something different. I'll change my destiny!_

Tellion didn't know if she was saying that to the voice, or to herself. Either way, Tellion wouldn't hold back anymore. Stretching out her palp receptors, Tellion wrapped their sensitive tips around the curved edges. Using what little strength her flimsy appendages could muster, Tellion dragged herself over the edge.

She fell into the air, and away from everything that she had ever known. She tumbled almost weightlessly through the space, falling for what felt like forever. It was eerily reminiscent to her of every time she had to leave a host and return to the Yeerk Pool. Then, almost as quickly as her plight had come, Tellion felt her squishy body impact into a surface.

It wasn't liquid. It was a somewhat solid surface, but not too firm. Tellion lay motionless for a long time, terrified that she was dead.

But as she felt the pain sensors all along her side rumble from the force of the impact, Tellion knew that she was still alive. Feeling that pain, that was a sure sign that she was alive, and it spurred a sense of urgency in her. She didn't know where she was, or how long she could survive outside of Yeerk Pool liquid without being in a host. Tellion only knew that she surely couldn't last indefinitely, she had to do something. But what? The voice hadn't told her exactly what to do, only that she needed to leave the container if she wanted a chance at another kind of life. Completely at a loss for what she should or could do, Tellion followed her Yeerk instincts and felt around with her palp receptors.

She worked them all across the surrounding surface, taking in and memorizing every sense of her sensitive Yeerk touch that she could. It wasn't as solid as she first thought, the surface had hundreds of little ridges, with a few much larger ones. And it gave slightly when she pushed the ends or her palp receptors into it. Then she felt four different extensions protruding from one end of this surface she was on, with another one extending out from another place. After running her palps across the surface several times, it finally occurred to Tellion what she had landed on.

Thanks to her identic Yeerk memory, Tellion remembered every single detail of the things she had seen and learned. That's how she knew beyond any doubt that what she had fallen on…was a native's hand. There was no mistaking their five digit hands. Tellion had interacted with enough native controllers to know that she was certain of where she was.

But, something wasn't right. If she was laying on a native's hand, why had they not reacted? Why hadn't they instinctively slapped her away, or crush her in their grasp? Tellion was sure that any one of these natives would find her in her true form to be absolutely repulsive. It was in that moment of questioning things that Tellion remembered her mission.

She had been assigned to the assistant to the governor, and he had been given a sedative so that he would be asleep when she was supposed to infest him. And she had just been scheduled for infestation. That's why she was there in the first place. Her only choice now…

…was to infest this helpless and unsuspecting being.

Oh how Tellion hated herself in that moment. She didn't want to enslave another person, but she also didn't want to die. Infesting this native was the only option that she had. There was simply no other way.

Knowing that she likely didn't have much time, Tellion vowed that she would find a way to leave this poor man as soon as she could. She just had to get a bearing of where she was, and what she would do next.

 _Please, please, please let him understand._ Tellion prayed, not really even sure to what, maybe the voice. Maybe to herself. _I won't hurt him at all. I'll release him the instant it's safe for me._

Once she had said those words, Tellion began dragging herself, one agonizing millimeter after another across the flesh of this native towards her ultimate destination. The native's ear, and her own entrance to their mind. Tellion had no measurement of time as she stretched out her palp connectors, latched them onto the flesh of this native, and used the feeble strength that she naturally possessed to pull herself just a little bit across the native's body. All sense of time for her was measured in each bit of movement she managed.

Maybe it had taken hours, or maybe only minutes, Tellion would never truly be sure. All she did know was that slowly, and somewhat painfully, she managed to drag herself off that native's hand, up their arm, across their shoulder, then neck, and finally to the opening of their ear canal. Once she was there, it took all of Tellion's mental strength to suppress her Yeerk instincts that were screaming at her to plunge herself into that ear.

 _I…I won't be a slave master again._ Tellion assured herself before stretching out her palp connectors into the depths of that ear canal and pulling herself inside.

She had done this all her life, but this time it felt different. Tellion had no way of knowing really why, but as she squeezed herself into that tight space of the ear, feeling her invertebrate body squish and flatten itself out as she pushed herself towards that screaming desire of her entire existence, something wasn't the same. Maybe it was because she had only infested a Gedd and Nahara before. This would be the very first time that she would be in a native mind.

A mind that she desperately needed to connect to.

As she continued to stretch her body out further and further into the depths, Tellion felt the very tips of her stretched out palp receptors brush against a soft and squishy substance. She had felt this type of texture all her life, and knew that she had found the brain.

Even though she had never been connected to a native brain before, Tellion's Yeerk instincts overtook her and she squeezed herself into the rest of the cranial cavity. Once inside, it took little effort for her to spread herself out across the entire length of the brain. The instant she had encompassed the entire brain, Tellion's control tendrils stretched out by the thousands and began weaving their way into the folds of the brain, connecting to the nerve endings. It only took a few moments from when her connectors began locking onto the nerve ends of the vast complex of that mind that Tellion knew something was wrong.

This mind, wasn't like any that she had ever been connected to. It was not like it had been with Tallaxia, or her older Gedd. In both of them, she had almost instantly been able to map out every part of the brain and where everything was located. The electrical impulses that raced through the countless nerves that Tellion could connect to were like beacons to her, beckoning and leading her to every vital part of the mind that she needed to go to gain mastery over the cerebral functions.

But that didn't happen this time.

Tellion had no way to understand or explain any of it, but there were no electrical impulses to guide her to any parts of this mind that she was connecting herself to. She started to search everywhere, in every corner of this brain. She needed to access the memories of this mind, so that she could process everything that was essential for her to learn how to imitate being a native.

But there weren't any memories to access. Tellion searched everywhere…and she couldn't find them. They should have been there, somewhere for her to locate. Tellion felt herself becoming desperate as she poked and prodded through her thousands of control tendrils to find something, anything to give her a sense of what kind of host she had attached herself to.

All she found was emptiness. There was nothing to be found. Anywhere.

This…didn't make any sense to Tellion. She had never experienced something like this before. She was completely and totally lost in this mind, with no way of understanding any of it. And the experience terrified her. Tellion had never felt more alone than she did in that moment. Her desperation mounting, Tellion began to frantically send out her own control impulses, searching in what was increasingly feeling like a vain hope to figure out this mind so that she could figure out where she was.

 _Hello._ Tellion call out in her own growing desperation. _Are you there?_

No answer. No electrical impulse response. Nothing.

 _Please,_ Tellion assured them. _Don't be afraid. I'll explain everything once I figure out where I am. But I need your help to figure out where that is._

Silence was her answer.

 _Please, just answer me. I…I'm alone and I need your help._

Still nothing was what she received.

Not knowing what she could do, Tellion continued to search about the brain. She sent out another series of impluses into the cerebral connections.

There!

Something happened. A sliver of something. It was, it was…vision!

Tellion saw something!

She sent out more burst impulses, again and again, searching in a desperate bid to isolate the part of the brain where she had witnessed the vision.

There it was again! She saw the sliver of vision once more. Tellion mapped out the brain, utilizing the complex system of processors to finally figure out where the part of the brain this body's eyes were located. Surging with the need to know where she was, Tellion focused all of her mental capacities on that one spot on the brain.

Then her world opened to a new existance as she willed the eyes to open.

Two. Two. There were two eyes. Not six. Not like Tallaxia's. And their range of vision was completely different from the spectrums that Tellion had experienced. Her Gedd host had poor vision, everything had always been blurry except at extremely close range. And Tallaxia had an almost tunnel like vision, but it hadn't mattered with her six eyes that could rotate at almost every angel.

Not these. Their range of rotation was extremely limited, yet their field of vision was far superior. As was their color processing spectrum. Everything was different for Tellion. She had no way of understanding all of these new fields of vison and depth perceptions. But, no sooner than when Tellion had opened her eyes, she became aware of something else.

She was laying down on some kind of elevated surface.

And she couldn't breathe! She was choking on something!

Tellion fired off more of her nerve impulses, trying in a wild attempt to figure out how to move the rest of the body. Even as she tried to locate the nerve impulses that would cause the body to react, she was overwhelmed by the mounting pressure in the lungs that were already burning and contracting from lack of air.

Again, she felt a twitch in the hand. The same hand that she had only a short time ago had been resting on. Tellion fired off a burst of impulses, and felt jubilation surge through her when her control tendrils responded with the jittering of the fingers.

 _Move the fingers, clench them around the hand._

The fingers moved. Yes!

They clenched.

She hand the hand isolated. The arm nerves were connected to the hand, they were located in the same areas of the brain as the hand. Tellion just had to isolate them as well, then direct their movements with her control tendrils. It only took Tellion a microsecond to do that. Suddenly, she had control over both the body's hands, and arms.

Moved by an almost instinctual desire to preserve both her life and the body that wouldn't speak to her, Tellion grasped wildly at her face. Her feeble and trembling hands grasped around something. Some kind of tube. It was stuck down her throat. It was what was choking her!

Tellion didn't think anymore. She grasped her hands around the mysterious tube and pulled with all her might. With one mighty yank, the odd tube was jerked from the depths of her throat. The instant it was from her mouth, Tellion drew in a ragged, agonizing breath. A hollow, almost voiceless breath came from the depths of her throat as her aching lungs drew in that desperately needed air. Her back instinctively arched as if she were trying to pull in as much oxygen as was physically possible with her body's lungs. As she did, Tellion rolled to her side, and felt a sharp pain in her arm.

Looking at it, she saw some another, smaller clear tube protruding from her arm. Tellion didn't know what that was, but she didn't want it in her. Without thinking she grasped the tube and yanked it from her arm. The sharp spike of suffering that rocketed all through that arm made Tellion almost instinctively roll over, and she fell off of surface that she was laying on.

The side of her face smashed into a hard surface not far below, some kind of floor. Pain exploded all through her head, all of those agonizing nerve jolts rushing up through this body's nervous system and into her control tendrils, making her very frail Yeerk body shudder as she tried to make sense of everything. Every bit of pain that this shape responded to, Tellion felt as if it where her own. Tellion didn't know why, but she pressed her jaws together and shut her eyes tightly as she attempted to understand what was happening to her. It didn't hurt as much as when Tallaxia had tried to kill herself and Tellion, but she felt more connected to this kind of suffering than she ever dared to think was possible for a Yeerk to experience.

Tellion willed what little strength she could muster to try and push herself up from the floor. The hands, the arms, this whole body shook with even the tiniest effort to move this form. Why was this body so weak? Tellion just couldn't understand why this was happening.

She only managed to lift herself halfway up before all the power in the arms failed her and she collapsed to the floor again.

 _Why won't you speak to me?_ Tellion begged. _I just, need your guidance. I need to know what's happening._

Silence. Nothingness was her answer.

Groaning from both her face hurting, and the sheer struggle that she found in trying to just figure out how to make this body move, Tellion slowly lifted herself from the floor into a sitting position. Then, one agonizing move after another, Tellion just barely managed to pull herself off the floor and brace herself against the bed, the one that she must have been laying on. The legs were much thinner than Tallaxia's, so much so that Tellion collapsed on the bed.

What was wrong with this body? What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she even move? And why wouldn't this host speak to her? She…needed them to talk to her.

 _Speak to me!_ Tellion shouted out all through the mind.

Nothing. Stillness.

Grunting, Tellion forced herself to sit up. Even that one action caused such immense agony through this body that she herself felt. Why did it all hurt so much? Why was it such a great strain to even move this body? Why was it so painful to just breathe? And why wasn't this host answering her?

Surely even by now they must have realized that something was wrong with them. But she wasn't receiving any electrical impulses throughout any part of this body's mind. It was… just a shell.

Tellion had never experienced anything like this, and it frightened her. She needed to look at herself. She needed to be able to see for herself what was wrong with her, and this body. She forced the neck muscles to rotate, trying her best to block out all of the agony that raced all through the tendons and ligaments, and all through her as well.

Forcing herself to look around, Tellion couldn't see anything in this entire room gave her even the semblance of being able to see herself. She saw some kind of odd, clearly primitive native machines that surrounded the bed that she had been laying on. One even had that blasted tube that had been stuck down her throat attached to it.

Taking a momentary glace at herself, Tellion saw that her host body was covered in some kind of thin fabric that hardly seemed practical to her. It appeared to serve no purpose other than to cover the body's form. She pulled the edge back slightly and looked down. Yes, nothing but bare flesh underneath. Such an odd thing, these things called 'clothes'. Tellion saw no real need for them, but that was hardly a matter that she needed to worry about. She needed to see herself, and figure out what was wrong with this host body. But where? Where?

Wait. Wait.

Tellion thought, this room was a standard hospital room. She had been briefed of their standard structure during the meeting with Visser Three. She just hadn't paid very close attention to those minor details. There was another room adjacent to this one. Tellion looked across the room, and saw the door that was only slightly closed. Yes, that was the lavatory area. Tellion remembered that there was a specially crafted surface that the natives utilized to observe themselves. Something called a mirror.

Knowing that she needed to see herself to make better sense of where she was and what she need to do next, Tellion forced herself to her feet.

She almost fell down as she put her full weight on them. These legs, these feet, they were so weak. Tellion stumbled across the room, falling against the wall, almost collapsing as she did.

Why was this body so weak? It was getting almost to point of being silly to keep asking that question, but it was one of the only questions that mattered to her in that moment. She knew that the natives were far frailer than most of the host bodies that the Empire had enslaved, but they were not supposed to be anywhere as feeble as this.

Tellion dragged herself into the small room, just barely holding herself up as she did.

"L…lights." she gargled in Naharan. The voice came out all wrong. This body, its vocal cords weren't anything like Tallaxia's. Tellion tried again, this time in her native Gedd/Yeerk language.

Still nothing.

Darkness was all that responded to Tellion. They might turn on if she spoke in the native language, but she only knew a few of their words, and with no memories in this mind to draw from, Tellion didn't have any way of learning how to say the words she needed to in that moment. Growling in absolute frustration, Tellion flailed her arms out. Her hand struck a small lever on the wall with a sharp ping of pain through her palm. But then the room was illuminated with artificial light. It blinded her for an instantly, causing Tellion to shield her eyes. But the moment soon passed, and the eyes adjusted to this new source of light. Finally able to see, Tellion she looked across the room, at an odd surface that reflected everything that was in the room. Even her.

And Tellion felt herself completely at a loss of understanding by the image that she was looking at.

The form that she was inhabiting…wasn't the one that she had been assigned to.

This body, was not her designated host. Tellion could easily tell that by the complete differences in facial structures and body form. She had identified and cataloged every detail of the host that had been meant to be hers, and this one wasn't that person. She didn't know who they were.

Tellion braced herself against the wall to keep the trembling legs from falling out from under her and inched closer to the reflective surface. As she neared the image staring back at her, Tellion took in every little detail.

The skin was a very light color, much paler than the host she was supposed to take. Long hair flowed all down the smooth face, going well past the shoulders. It was a dark reddish hue, not any kind that she had remembered seeing in any being before. As she looked on at the shape of her new 'body', Tellion felt a strange realization come over her.

This body…was female.

Not very well versed in differences between native genders, Tellion weakly patted the chest area. Yes, there were two mounds of flesh that she felt her hands squished against. Not exceptionally noticeable, but they were obviously there is one was looking. The odd sensations that the body felt were unknown to her from touching them. Tellion didn't know what that meant, but she decided to not touch that area again for now. Not until she understood what those physical sensations meant.

Looking up from the chest area, Tellion moved a little closer and stared for a very long time at the alien face that had become her own. The light brown coloration that rimmed the black pupils somehow captivated her. They felt so, gentle and nurturing, almost like how Tellion would have seen herself. She set all of her optical focus on the core of those eyes, searching in what was feeling like increasing vain to find even a shred of the being she was hosting in the reflection.

"Why?" Tellion asked, her weak voice on the verge of breaking. "Why won't you speak to me? I…I don't want to be alone. I need you to talk to me. Tell me what's happening to me, to us."

Silence still. The native that this body belonged to…wasn't there. They weren't anywhere in this mind. It was like they had never existed.

Tellion was alone. She didn't understand this. She didn't know how, or why, she as a Yeerk was inhabiting a host, and was by herself. There wasn't any kind of response from the brain. It was completely empty. She had never experienced this before, and she hated every moment of it. The sadness overcame her like a crushing weight.

Tellion had no way of knowing or understanding how this new body would react to her emotional state, but it did react. Against anything that she felt that could be controlled, Tellion sensed a wetness slipping from her optical sensors, the fluid running down the face's smooth cheeks uncontrollably as her sorrow continued to escalate.

Tellion had seen this before. May time from hosts just before they were reinfested. It was, 'tears'. Yes, that's what the native controllers called it. She was shedding tears. Tellion didn't know why this was happening, or how to control it. Not knowing what to do with herself, Tellion stumbled out of the small room and into the main one.

What was she supposed to do with this body? Why was this one different from any that she had ever inhabited before? What did that mysterious voice intend for her to do now? How was she, a pathetic, lowly Yeerk supposed to show some vastly powerful force that Yeerks could find redemption when she couldn't even understand what was happening to her?

Tellion had so many questions, with not a single answer to make sense of any of it. And she felt so very lost that she almost began to wonder if she had made the right choice. Maybe…maybe it would just be better for her to turn herself over to the nearest Yeerk authorities and accept her inevitable fate.

Just as she let those thoughts pass through her, Tellion heard noise coming from the other side of the flimsy door that was adjacent to her. She curiously turned herself to face that small door. She never understood why, but Tellion wiped away the tears from her face as she heard the noises drawing closer. As she did, the frame cracked open slightly, and a pair of loud, harsh voices filled her tiny room.

"I don't care what happened dammit!" A voice shouted. "You can't keep me from seeing her…"

"Sir! I don't think you understand the situation! We just had a drug nut break into the pharmacy in the hospital basement, and he shot at our security personel. The whole hospital is on lockdown and the police are trying to establish a perimeter right now to keep him from getting away! We've got the damn Governor in the building and they're trying to emergency evacuate him right now!"

"I told you I don't care!" The door swung open and a native entered the room. Their head was turned slightly to look behind them as they were speaking to someone else. "I have a right to see her before…"

The native twisted their head back to face forward, and both their voice and their movement stopped instantly when they saw Tellion standing there. Everything just seemed to stop for Tellion in that next moment as she stared at this native. She didn't know what to do as the native stood completely still in the only possible exit from her.

Was he a controller? Was she about to be apprehended by the Imperial authorities? What was her fate to be?

Tellion had very little understanding of native biology, but she was still able to recognize that this native was clearly male. As he continued to look at her, his body began to jerk somewhat awkwardly. The items he was carrying dropped to the floor, of which he took no notice of. And he brought a hand up to cover his mouth as some incoherent noises were uttered by him. Tellion also had little knowledge of native expressions and actions, and she couldn't understand anything that he was saying. But she didn't interpret any of the actions as clearly hostile. At least, she hoped that was what she was reading in his actions.

As she tried to make sense of his mannerisms, the native male took a single, shaking step towards her.

"My god…" he said in voice that was so low that Tellion barely heard it as he lowered the hand that had covered his mouth. "S…Susan?"

Tellion instinctively dipped her face slightly at what she could only assume was a question, still mimicking her non-verbal responses she had learned from Tallaxia. But she was not Nahara now, and the gesture didn't seem natural in this form since she didn't have six separate eyes located all across the head and didn't warrant a lot of unnecessary head movement.

"Is that you Susan?"

There was that strange word again. Susan.

 _Susan,_ Tellion thought, _what is a Susan?_

She had never heard of a 'Susan' before from the natives. Tellion couldn't imagine what that could possibly be.

Wait. Tellion thought. Tallaxia…Susan? Was that the name of the host body that she had found herself in?

"Tell me this isn't a dream." the native male said, moving closer to her. "Tell me it's really you Susan."

 _I don't know what you're saying._ Tellion thought to herself. _I don't know what you want from me. Are you, are you looking for this Susan?_

Tellion so desperately wanted to give this native some kind of answer to these unknown questions. She wanted, probably more than this native could possibly understand in this moment, to find this Susan. But she had already looked through every portion of his body's mind. And she had found nothing anywhere in it.

There simply was no Susan. There was just her. Just Tellion. And she had no way of understanding why this was. It frightened her almost as much as when she was afraid of being killed by her superiors.

Her lack of any kind of response didn't dissuade this strange native.

"It's a miracle." he said as fluid began to trickle down the sides of his own face. "It's a miracle!"

He suddenly rushed at Tellion, taking her completely by surprise. Her mind instantly raced to try and process this unexpected. Tellion only manged to take a step back from this charging native before he was upon her. Tellion brought her arms up defensively in a feeble effort to protect herself, but she was easily overpowered by this native. All she could do was brace herself for what she was sure was about to be an agonizing beating by the larger being.

What he did next shattered Tellion's entire concept of reality.

The native male grasped her small head in his powerful hands, and pressed his mouth firmly against hers.

Tellion's eyes went wide with shock and her entire body instantly froze as if she had been blasted by a Dracon beam. A supernova of unknown sensations exploded out from the feeling of her lips touching this native's, racing throughout the rest of the body, and straight up into Tellion herself. The single heart in her chest violently slammed against the rib cage in an instant response to these sensations, giving Tellion the fear that it would explode in that next instant. All of the breath was pulled from the lungs, giving her a feeling of suffocating. But among all of this shock and fear, there was something else. Something that Tellion had never known before in her entire life.

Warmth, and sense of unknown, unexplainable comfort that enveloped her complete existence. It was faintly similar to the joy and hope that Tellion had experienced with Tallaxia, but this was far different in ways that she couldn't begin to comprehend. She didn't know what this unknown feeling was, she had never before experienced such indescribable comfort before, the only thing that Tellion knew for sure was that she never, ever wanted this sensation to end.

But end it did.

As quickly as it had happened, the native male broke his lips from hers. As he did, the last traces of breath weakly escaped from Tellion's mouth. All the strength faded from her legs, and she fell into the native's strong arms. She couldn't think in that moment, all attempts at rational thought were lost in the crushing expanse of these powerful emotions. Still feeling her whole existance in a whirling spiral of things she had never known before, Tellion cautiously lifted her face to meet the native's.

His mouth was curved upwards at the corners, a smile. Yes, Tellion knew of native smiles. But this one wasn't full of mocking gestures or malicious glee. It held the same warmth that she felt was mirroring her own bizarre feelings in that moment. But as she stared up at him with complete bewilderment, the smile on his face gradually faded. It was replaced by, some other kind of look. Maybe, maybe it was, curiosity. But Tellion just couldn't know. Nor could she really even try to comprehend it in that moment. All she could do was reel from the pounding of her body's heart against the inside of the chest cavity as she couldn't break her gaze from the native's face.

"Susan." he spoke softly, tracing his fingers gently down the side of her cheek, sending more waves of radiating warmth through her body again. "Don't you recognize me?"

Tellion didn't understand the words, but she just somehow knew that he was asking her a question. Not knowing any words to say to him, Tellion did the only thing that she knew how to do as a native. She weakly shook her head from side to side, not even sure herself what subconscious expression she was giving him with her eyes. Her response didn't seem to make him happy, instead his expressions twisted into an image that Tellion could only suspect was sadness, but she couldn't be sure. His eyes lowered only for a moment before looking right back at her.

"It's me, Mark." he told her. There was a moment of silence, one that felt to Tellion like the passage of a millennia as she waited for what he was going to say next.

"Your husband."

Tellion could only manage a fait trembling of her lips from the words the native, Mark, spoke to her. The silence she gave him didn't dissuade his next words or actions.

"You don't know who I am, do you?"

Again, Tellion didn't know what he was saying, and could only shake her head again in response. To her own surprise, Mark's smile instantly returned and his face became happy once again.

"I don't care." he said. "I don't care if you don't remember. Your back! That's all that matters to me!"

He wrapped his strong arms around Tellion's frail body and pulled her close to him, enveloping his entire body against hers. As he held her trembling frame, running his hands through her hair and whispering things that she couldn't understand into her ear, one single and terrifying question popped into Tellion's mind in that instant.

 _Husband._ Tellion thought with a mixture of shock, terror, and these new sensations. _Wh…what is a husband?!_

* * *

I just wanted to say a few things so that there's no confusion. I wrote the conversation between Tellion and 'The Voice' the way I did to make it easier to read, but also to show that they were two different ways of speaking. Also, even though Tellion can't understand what Mark is saying, I want the reader to know so as to make their interactions easier to understand. And I also wanted to say thanks for the reviews, I was a bit nervous about making an Animorph fanfiction completely from the point of view of a Yeerk, but I'm glad to know people are enjoying it. Thanks again!


	5. A New Life

Tellion 7854 willed her eyes to slowly follow the small light that was being waved in front of her face. It had taken a few times for the native healer in the long white garment to explain to Tellion what he needed her to do. She quickly learned that the word 'light' and 'follow' meant that he wanted her to keep her vision focused on the small artificial beam he was holding. She 'followed' the movement back and forth without any trouble, which seemed to satisfy him. It was not easy for her. In fact, staying focused was proving to be very difficult. Not the least because the native Mark was beside her.

It was taking all of Tellion's concentration to not continue to glace from the edge of her field of vision at him. She couldn't shake the sensation of that moment of his mouth encasing hers. She had never known that touching lips could exist in not only the natives of this world, but in any other species. There were no memories of such an action in either her Gedd host or Tallaxia. Connecting of mouths should have seemed odd or disgusting to her, yet she couldn't shake away the faint tingling of her body's lips from that contact. Tellion kept finding herself almost instinctively raising her hands up to brush her fingers across her mouth. Each time she barely caught herself in time. And it didn't help her concentration that Mark kept holding her free hand, gently rubbing his fingers across the smooth skin of her palm while speaking his soft words to her. She didn't hate his actions at all, it was just…distracting. But distracting in a very pleasant way. All of this was just barely possible for Tellion to comprehend this new existance.

While she never truly fought in any battles, she had still been a soldier of the Yeerk Empire. And she had never known that there could ever exist anything beyond a life of fear, cruelty, and impending death. Tellion didn't think Yeerks had ever tried to be anything else than the ruthless conquering force that they were. Now she wondered why they hadn't. She now understood that there was more to life than desiring power and wielding it so cruelly. So much more.

But she didn't have any more time to dwell on those types of thoughts. Tellion had to focus on what the native healer wanted to her to do. She didn't know what else to do since she was still lost on what any of them really expected her to do. They had already done several of these 'tests' on her. They were very strange to Tellion's understanding. She was almost wishing that she had enlisted in the medical corps of the Empire instead of Kandrona Ray maintenance. At least then she would have some idea what these healers were trying to do. But she apparently succeeded in what the healer wanted to see.

Yet, with each new test she passed, he only seemed to want to do more of them. And they were quickly going from ones that were testing all of her new found senses to ones that were involving various machines. It was starting to raise concern in Tellion. She didn't know what capacity human machines had at scanning the internals of the body she was inhabiting, but she was almost certain that despite their primitive technology, at least one of those archaic machines would either detect something wrong with the brain directly or somehow see her in the scans, even though her invertebrate body shouldn't appear in any x-ray based scan. She needed to stop these 'tests', and soon. Just as she was thinking about this, the native healer turned to Mark.

"All of the signs appear good. Reaction times are spot on, she seems to have almost full use of senses and motor functions."

"So then…she's perfectly fine?" Mark asked in a voice that Tellion just couldn't quite understand yet.

"Fine would be a very broad way of answering her current state. Physically, yes she appears fine. I can't see anything wrong with Susan's cognitive abilities. She just seems to have suffered a total memory loss. But she's clearly able to learn what we're saying, surprisingly very easily."

He held up the end of the device that was emulating light and pointed at it. Tellion looked at it for a moment before understanding that he wanted her to speak. "L…light?" she croaked weakly, hoping that was correct response.

The native healer smiled at both her and Mark. "You see, she's clearly able to learn, so that's a good sign. But I'd still like to run her through at least a CAT scan to make sure that there's no permanent damage that we can't see."

"Are you sure that's necessary?" Mark asked, his voice rising slightly.

The healer pulled Mark away from her over to the far side of the room, where Tellion was sure that they thought she couldn't hear them. She didn't understand why they did that, she barely knew any of the words that they were speaking, much less how they applied to her present situation.

"Sir, I understand that you're very elated right now, so I get why you want to get these tests over with. But your wife just woke from a several month coma. She was legally…"

"I know what she was declared!" Mark growled back in an angry tone. "Maybe you didn't realize this, but I'm a doctor too. So I know full well that there's no rational explaination for why she's up and moving right now. And you know what? I don't care."

"Still, I think we need to at least keep her overnight to make sure she doesn't slip back into her prior state."

Tellion didn't know the words that they were saying to each other, but she somehow just knew that they were talking about keeping her in the healing center. That meant more 'tests'. The native healer and Mark may discover her real self through one of their scanning machines. Or worse, one of the many controllers still in the facility could find out about her. If that happened…Tellion didn't dare to think of the consequences for her, and Mark. She had only just encountered this native, and she instantly knew that she didn't want to see him infested, no that couldn't happen. All unhosted Yeerks had been in the mini-Yeerk Pool, and if the voice's words had been true, then they were all dead now and the Yeerk pool was ruined. The only Yeerks still be left in the building would be controllers, and were likely trying madly to erase any trace of their forces having been operating in the facility. And that would also likely make them very paranoid about discovery. But even still, if any of the remaining Yeerk forces were to suspect any threat of detection from her actions, then Mark would be...

Tellion couldn't let anything happen to him.

She had to act. Now!

"No!" Tellion shouted one of the few native words she knew, leaping awkwardly from the table she had been sitting on. She hobbled over to Mark, almost falling over herself as she hid behind him.

"No." Tellion whispered into his ear. "Go."

Mark turned to face her. "Susan?"

"Go." Tellion said again in a voice that she thought sounded like a plea, at least she hoped that it did.

"You…want to leave?" he asked.

Tellion guessed that 'leave' meant escaping the building and would put them both out of imminent danger. She nodded her head frantically. "Go. Leave."

Mark brushed aside a small bit of the hair that had fallen over her face, gently rubbing his fingers across the surface of her cheek, sending those familiar yet alien tingles running through her whole body. Tellion couldn't understand the reason why, but she wanted to lift her own hand and place it over his, but Mark turned back to the healer before she could do anything.

"Alright then." he told the other native. "She doesn't want to stay her anymore. So that's it. You ran your tests, and she appears fine enough to leave."

The healer looked shocked. "Sir, with all due respect, I don't think you're taking this situation rationally. We don't know what the internal condition of her brain currently is."

"She seems perfectly healthy to me. Now please go and get her things and the discharge papers." Mark told him.

The healer stared back at him, not moving on Mark's apparent request. "I'm sorry sir, I just can't allow her to leave yet. I believe that she needs to stay overnight for more tests."

Mark took a step closer to the healer, clearly displaying that he was taller than the other native. Tellion could only guess that it was a display of dominance. It was an act of protection for her. No, not really, it was for the one known as Susan. Tellion felt guilt for some reason she had yet to fully understand upon that realization.

"Alright, you listen to me." he said in a low voice. "One of two things is about to happen. You're either going to leave and come back with those discharge papers, or I'm coming back here within the hour with my attorney and we'll sue this hospital's ass off for holding my wife against her will. And given the fact that you just had a shootout in the basement, with the governor here no less, I think the last thing this place needs right now is anymore bad publicity."

The healer's face twisted into an expression that Tellion still hadn't figured out the meaning for in natives, but she believed it to be semi-hostile. There was a moment of silent friction between the healer and Mark as they both stared at each other. Just as Tellion feared that he was going to call more personnel to restrain the both of them, or directly attack Mark, he backed away slightly.

"Sir," he said in a very clear voice. "I must warn you. You're signing your wife out of this hospital against medical advice."

"And I already told you, I don't care." he countered. "I'm one of the few people here that's capable of assessing her condition. And I say that she's fine enough to leave."

"You're not a head surgeon." the healer said.

"I'm qualified enough. Now make it happen."

The healer grumbled something under his breath, then stormed out of the room. Once he was gone, Mark turned back to Tellion. He gently touched the side of her head.

"It's ok. We're getting out of here in just a little bit."

Tellion shuddered from his touch, unable to help herself from looking up at his comforting face.

"Leave?" she asked weakly.

Mark smiled, nodding his head. "Yes. We're leaving."

The joy that Tellion felt in that moment was more than she suspected Mark was capable of truly understanding. She was about to escape from her life as a soldier of the Yeerk Empire. Freedom, that precious, almost fabled dream that she had never believed was within her grasp, was finally upon her. Tellion mimicked Mark's smile, hoping that the gesture she was doing properly displayed the happiness that she was reveling in within that moment.

It must have been the right expression, because Mark's next action was to wrap his arms around Tellion and pull her tightly against him. Tellion didn't really know what she was feeling from that. The sensations running through this body that she had inhabited were similar to when Mark had placed his mouth upon hers. A little less intense, but they were still there. Tellion didn't move as he continued to envelope her, because she ultimately didn't know or understand what it was that she was feeling. These…sensations were all so strange to her. She had never known that something so, pure and good, could ever exist in all of the known cosmos. Tellion didn't know if she should lift her arms around him and return the action, look up at his face, or to try to touch her mouth to his again…

She was lost in all of these emotions, and could do nothing except stand there and let Mark hold her. They could have been standing there for a lifetime, Tellion really didn't care about the space of time, she just enjoyed it all. But the moment between them was broken when the healer returned, this time with a female healer. Tellion was afraid that this new person was a controller. But once Mark began talking to the two of them, Tellion began to have her doubts.

Ultimately, even though she was a Yeerk herself, it was almost impossible to tell a controller from an uninfested being. Unless a situation warranted the reactions one would expect from a Yeerk. And right now, Tellion was sure that every controller in the building was on edge at the prospect of not only discovery of the natives of their forces, but also the certain fury that Visser Three was bound to unleash upon them for the failure of his carefully planned operation and the loss of one of his rapidly up and coming lieutenants. The female didn't appear nervous at all, but she did make the same facial expressions that the other healer made at the idea of Mark taking her out of the building.

As Mark and the male healer began to go over a bunch of primitive thin sheets of material with a bunch of incomprehensible native writing on it, the female healer took Tellion's hand and led her into the adjacent room. Once inside, she shut the door and displayed a bunch of items to Tellion that she could only have guessed was native clothing.

She began talking to Tellion, but quickly realized that Tellion didn't have any idea what she was saying to her. It was after that the female healer slowly approached Tellion and grabbed the edges of the thin sheet she was wearing. Tellion flinched at her actions, but she quickly said words in a low and gentle tone that Tellion's tension eased. She didn't resist as the garment was pulled up and over her head, leaving her without any covering at all. Honestly, Tellion didn't really feel anything as she stood there without anything covering her new body. Neither her Gedd, nor Tallaxia had required any covering. Maybe that was because there were no real obvious differences in both species between the two genders, so garments weren't really required. In truth, Tellion would have felt perfectly fine without the garments that were placed before her, but she knew that native society wouldn't allow such an action. And she didn't know how Mark would take her doing that either.

As she tried to make sense of it all, the female healer held up the first piece of clothing and handed it to her. It was made of two semi-round bits of material with several thin pieces attached at various parts to their edges. Tellion honestly didn't have the first idea what this garment was for, or what purpose it could serve. When the female healer realized that she was just holding it without doing anything, she took the item from Tellion and walked around behind her. Tellion flinched when she felt the healer bring the garment around to the front of her and place the two clumps of material over the mounds of flesh that were on her body's chest, but the tension eased when she realized that this native female was just trying to help her. Tellion felt both of her arms being guided between bits of the straps and then the entire fabric was tightened around her chest from behind. She twisted her head as far as it could go and watched in the reflective surface of the 'mirror' as the female healer fasted several small clamps and latches that were on both ends of the two parts of the material that she pulled together. Tellion made sure to memorize how this garment was put on and compartmentalized all of the actions needed to make that happen. She was sure that she would need to know how to put such a garment on again.

Once it was securely fastened, Tellion assessed the difference of how the mounds of flesh on her chest felt without the garment as opposed to having it on. It was a little constraining, at least she thought so. But it did seem to secure those extended bits of flesh, and unless she was mistaken, it seemed to push them upward and outward slightly, making them more visible.

After that, the female healer showed Tellion a small, triangular bit of clothing that appeared similar to the first one that had been placed over her chest. Clearly, this garment was supposed to be more personal to female natives, seeing as how the healer handed Tellion the clump of clothing and clearly refused to dress her in it. Tellion just held the garment for a few moment, staring oddly at it before the healer caught her attention and started making motions with her hands.

It was a bit difficult, but Tellion followed her directions. She stretched the garment out, and first stepped a foot through one of the openings, then her other one through the adjacent opening. She then pulled it up until it snuggly encased what Tellion could only guess was the body's reproductive area. She wasn't an idiot when it came to understand the placement of such areas on biological forms. Both her Gedd and Tallaxia's 'personal' areas had been located almost directly between the part of the body where the legs and the waist were joined. She had just…never had a real need or desire to pay attention to those aspects of the bodies she had inhabited.

She had never been ordered to reproduce additional hosts in her life as a controller, and so Tellion was clueless about anything concerning the matter.

Once it was on, the stiffness in the female healer seemed to ease, and she helped to direct Tellion with how to place the rest of the garments over her slender body. There was a set of long and reasonably thick fabric that encompassed both of her legs, an almost silly thin four holed and stretchy material that she found somewhat difficult to place over her head and slip both arms through the right holes to cover her upper body. The only part of the entire process that she found satisfying was placing the padded items over both her feet. They eased the pressure on both of her feet, and she liked the comfort they brought.

After she was apparently properly dressed, the female healer helped to lead Tellion out of the small room. She stumbled a few times before exiting, this new body was still so very weak, and she was having difficulty making it do the things that she needed it to. In a small, almost forgotten part of her thoughts, Tellion wished that she could somehow find where Susan was hidden deep within this mind she had attached herself to. But it was only a passing thought as she exited the room, and saw Mark's bright and happy face at the sight of her.

Just experiencing that, Tellion forgot almost everything that she was thinking, or worrying about. She just felt herself falling into a chasm of intense sensations that radiated from her chest and spread all throughout her new body. The strength started fading from her legs again, and the female healer had to catch her from falling. In the next moment, Mark was at her side, helping to keep her from collapsing. The two of them lead her over to a primitive chair with wheels. After she had been seated, Mark rubbed her shoulder before going back to the first healer and gave him the stack of thin parchment from earlier. The male healer gave Tellion one final look, which she didn't know what it was supposed to mean, before walking out of the room.

Mark turned his attention back to her. "That's it. Ready to leave?"

Leave. Escape her miserable life in the Yeerk Empire? Of course she was.

Tellion nodded her head slightly, which was all the answer that Mark apparently needed. Giving her that captivating smile for just an instant that made Tellion's body shudder, Mark opened the door and she was rolled out. Passing through that door was like entering another world all together. There were so many natives running about, in all manner of outfits, in what Tellion could only comprehend as mass confusion. She was sure that there were some controllers among them, there had to be. But clearly none of them had the time to notice a frail, probably very sickly looking, native being rolled down the hall and away from it all. Tellion didn't dare to look at any of them, least she draw attention to herself. Rolling through that overwhelming insanity, heading towards the freedom she had always dreamt of, Tellion was at her most frightened moment.

She almost didn't dare to believe that this was happening. The mysterious voice had been right, it was all so very terrifying. But it was all worth it to gain true freedom.

It was all over before she even had time to assess everything. A pair of transparent doors automatically opened, and Tellion was rolled out into the open world.

The faint chill in the air was the very first thing that she noticed. A gust of wind blew across her skin, causing a tingling reaction all across the smooth surface of her flesh. It was so sensitive, far more than Tallaxia's had ever been. Then she inhaled the air. Fresh, crisp, clean. Nothing like the damp, thick atmosphere of the Yeerk pool. Even breathing felt like freedom. It was so wonderful.

As she became lost in the overload of all her senses that she was taken by surprise when Mark brought his strong arms around Tellion and lifted her from the wheeled chair. As she flinched from his touch, Tellion realized that he was almost carrying her to some kind of native transportation vehicle. Tellion had to suppress a sudden urge to laugh at the sight of it. A metal carcass, placed upon wheels…such a silly way to travel. Anti-gravitational repulse pads on the underside would have made more sense. Until she reminded herself how far behind Yeerk technology natives were.

Mark helped place Tellion into the seat, and was caught off guard when Tellion grasped the restraint mechanism and secured it into the latch port on the other side of the seat she was sitting on. Tellion looked up at him with a small bit of confusion. Was she not supposed to do that? Restraint harness were almost universal for any form of transportation. She had secured herself more than once on shuttles when she had been ferried back and forth from the Pool Ship to the planet side base. When she saw the look on Mark's face, Tellion realized that she shouldn't have done that. It clearly drew suspicion from him. Tellion had a fleeting moment of terror that she had somehow given herself away. And just when she was on the very cusp of gaining her precious freedom.

As she began to shrink into the seat, Mark gently shook his head and smiled at her. He closed the door to the vehicle and walked around to the other side. He got in and secured himself in his own seat. Tellion watched closely as he took some small metal object and inserted it into a small port on the wheel column in front of him. He turned it, and the engine roared to life. The sudden metallic growl of the engine caused Tellion to jump and emit a frightened yelp. Mark looked at her with concern.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Tellion looked at him, and was though she wasn't able to understand the words, she was able to read his face and understand that he was worried about her. Tellion felt her eyes begin to feel a faint wetness in them from the understanding that there was someone that had come into her existence that actually cared for her well-being that wasn't a friend.

Mark leaned across his seat and again brushed aside the hair that had fallen across her face, making her body shudder once more from his touch. She felt herself drawn to him for reasons that she still couldn't explain, and she did begin to lean towards Mark. To do what, Tellion wasn't entirely sure, maybe touch her lips to his again.

"Are you sure you want to leave?"

 _Leave. Escape. Of course I want to escape this life Mark. Take me away from this horrible life that I never asked for._ Tellion thought.

Against Tellion's expectations, she felt wetness begin flood her eyes and she forced herself to turn away from Mark before she lost all control of her senses and spoke to him in Gedd/Yeerk tongue. Mark's hand hovered near her head for a few passing, heart pounding moments before he retracted it. Tellion glanced from the corner of her vision and saw that Mark was looking out his own window. Before he had a chance to notice her tears, Tellion wiped them away and looked back out her window. With that final act, Mark didn't seem to pay any more attention to her actions, and the primitive vehicle began to move away from the healing center.

Tellion watched in silence as they pulled away, and was unable to help herself from breathing a faint sign of relief at the sudden understanding that she was finally free. No more Empire. No more Visser Three. No more fear of failure, and death. She was free of it all. But what was she to do with that freedom? Tellion just didn't know yet. Maybe, soon, she would find out how. But not tonight. Tonight she would just try and enjoy the jubilation that she felt from escaping the miserable existence that she had called her pathetic life.

After they had driven through some kind of barricade of vehicles and local military enforcement personnel, Tellion felt like she had suddenly been transported into an entirely new world. Mark drove them through what Tellion could only guess was the heart of the city that the Empire had based itself under. She remembered seeing the projections of it in the Visser's briefing, but nothing could ever possibly prepare Tellion for what she was experiencing as they rode through it.

She couldn't keep her jaw from dropping with absolute amazement at all of the lights, and sounds, and natives. They were everywhere. So many of them. So bright and vibrant. So full of life, and joy. Tellion just couldn't fathom that there could be such a place that existed. With the Yeerk Empire, everything was always built with militaristic efficacy, and coldness. There was no culture, no joy in anything that her people even bothered to create, there was no real life in any of it. This…was all so very alien to Tellion.

Mark didn't interrupt Tellion as she continued to let herself become immersed in everything that was a part of the native city on their journey. The trance like state that she was in only broke when they had finally left heart that was the city. Once it had all died down enough for Tellion to not be distracted by overwhelming assault of what everyday life was for the native of this world, Tellion finally allowed herself to focus her attention back to Mark.

He didn't seem to take much of a notice that she was also taking occasional glances at him from the corners of her eyesight. She watched what him, and how he operated the vehicle. She saw how he turned the wheel to make it go the way he wanted it to, also how he worked the pair of peddles by his feet to make the vehicle both accelerate and stop. Tellion was only able to grasp a vague understanding of how the machine was operated, but she thought it was a good thing to at least know the basic concept of how it worked. One could never know when any type of knowledge would prove useful in the future.

They travelled on and on, with Tellion taking in the details of the rapidly fading concrete and steel structures, replaced by the growing sight of natural vegetation. Mark was taking her through a series of very long streets with small buildings that were erected side by side for what seemed to stretch out endlessly. Tellion's attention was only caught when Mark finally slowed the vehicle down and pulled in front of one of the small dwellings. He stopped the vehicle in front of a flimsy metal shutter at the end of a concrete path that led to the dwelling and turned the engine off. Once the engine had ceased all noises, Mark turned his face at her. Tellion meekly twisted her head only just slightly to look back at him.

He was smiling at her again. It made her cheeks grow warm when he did that, and Tellion couldn't bring herself to look away from him.

"We're home." Mark said, pointing at the building.

 _Home_. Tellion thought as she looked at the small building in front of her. _What is home?_

"Home?" Tellion repeated the word in a fragile voice, knowing full well that she didn't really understand its meaning.

Mark nodded his head. "Yes, it's our home."

He made some kind of sound that Tellion had never heard from him before, but it didn't seem to be either said or upset. Mark stared out the thin glass shield that covered the front of the vehicle at the dwelling. It was a look that told Tellion that he was in deep thought.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this, you don't even understand what I'm saying. I mean…it's like I'm bringing a complete stranger home with me. I shouldn't have even taken you from the hospital. All my medical training says that we should have stayed until all the tests were done."

He turned his captivating gaze back to her.

"But there was this…I don't know really know how to explain it. There was this feeling that I got, that I just had to get you out of that place. I was thinking that you were in some kind of danger, and I had to keep you safe. I mean…I'm supposed to protect you. You're my wife."

 _Wife._ Telliong thought again. _What is a wife?_

Tellion only had to see at the way Mark was looking at her for Tellion to realize what that word meant to both her and Mark.

A wife…was some kind of companion to a husband. She wasn't exactly sure what the kind of bond there was supposed to exist between the two, but if Mark's interactions with her were any kind of indication of that, it had to be a very powerful connection between natives.

And that was why Tellion began to sense a faint sadness simmering in the core of the body she was in. Because despite how wonderful everything she was feeling in that moment was, Tellion also felt that there was something wrong with Mark's feelings toward her…

Before she had any more time to think of that, Mark existed the vehicle and walked around to her door and opened it. He helped Tellion unbuckle herself and climb out of the primitive vessel. Taking hold of her hands, which sent those bizarre tingles rushing through Tellion once more, Mark led her to a simple wooden door. He used some kind of small piece of metal on the little metal latch on the edge, then he pushed it inward. With only a slight tug of his hand, he led Tellion into the dwelling.

When she entered the dwelling, Tellion didn't know what to truly make of everything. The first thing that she noticed was the open space. A room as large as the command center mission briefing area that Visser Three used lay just beyond the entrance, with a large assortment of seats centered around some kind of primitive viewing screen. Tellion had seen something similar to this arrangement back at the Yeerk Pool in the area designated for recreation of the voluntary controllers. In truth, Tellion had always made sure to avoid that place as much as she could. Despite being a Yeerk, Tellion had always found the idea of a being willing to completely surrender their freedom, no matter the reason, to be somewhat disgusting.

The next thing Tellion noticed was the many garments and other miscellaneous items strewn about the room in no apparent order.

Mark made a faint grumble at the sight, which drew her attention. His cheeks had turned a light shade of red and he looked down at his feet.

"Sorry about the mess. I…haven't exactly been cleaning up after myself for a while now."

She didn't understand the words still, but Tellion sensed that Mark appeared dissatisfied with the state of the building. He didn't know it, but Tellion could sympathize with his plight. She had learned from the early part of her life to keep her living space clean and organized, least she draw the disciplinary wrath of her assigned officer. Here, in his life of apparent peace and freedom, Mark didn't have to face such discipline.

He lead her over to one of the large chairs, quickly brushing off several crumpled up clothing items and eased her into the seat. Tellion was surprised at how odd it felt at first, to have her small frame somewhat sink into the structure as whatever padding covered the chair folded to her body shape and weight. But it was so very comfortable. Especially on the meaty flesh of her lower back side. An involuntary noise came from her, one that she wasn't sure the meaning of. Apparently, it appeared to please Mark, because he smiled at her.

"Comfy?" he asked.

Tellion could only guess the word meant some form of relaxation, since it was directed at her apparent enjoyment of comfort.

"Comfy." she repeated his word, looking up at him.

Mark somehow just radiated a sort of happiness at her answer. He pulled a small leaver on the side of the chair, startling Tellion in the next moment as some hidden mechanism suddenly pushed her legs up off the floor. Mark instantly knelt beside her and said some soothing words to her, as well as gently rubbing her shoulder. It took a few moments for Tellion to feel the pounding of her heart ease slightly. It was still drumming weakly against her rib cage from his touch.

"Here." he said, handing her a small device.

He pressed a colored button at the top, and the viewing screen came to life. Tellion wasn't nearly as startled from the sudden noises coming from the device as she had been with the chair kicking up her legs, but it was enough to distract her for a moment. Mark continued to talk to her in sentences that she had yet to figure out, but she was able to identify and process how the words 'power', 'channel', and 'volume' were related to certain buttons that Mark was pressing on the device to make the adjustments to the viewing screen.

"Just sit back and enjoy yourself." Mark told her. "I'll take care of this mess."

Tellion didn't have long to wonder what those words he had said meant as Mark began to walk about the room, collecting up the various discarded items and garments and taking them out of the room. Tellion used the device, changing the viewing contents on the primitive screen, not really sure what she was looking at. Native entertainment was so…bizarre to her. But so was entertainment itself. Natives were so far behind the Empire technologically, but at least they bothered to try and make themselves happy.

She couldn't remember any time in her short life of any form of pure recreation as a soldier of the Yeerk Empire. Yeerks didn't seem to have time for such trivial things like entertainment. Again, it seemed they existed for nothing more than following orders in pursuit of conquest and enslavement. As far as Tellion knew, the only form of 'entertainment' that Yeerks were aware of in her archaic culture was the torture and grisly execution of subordinates by their superiors. Knowing that there existed no real joy or happiness among her kind made Tellion…sad for her people. It made her wonder if Yeerks that had infiltrated native society found joy in the lives they were living. She hoped so. The thought of being the only one of her kind that truly dreamed the way she did felt so terrifying to Tellion.

But that was not for her anymore, Tellion assured herself. She had made her choice. She had walked away from that life. Whatever lay before her, she was glad to finally be free of the Empire.

As she dwelled on this, Tellion noticed that Mark had come back in and was gathering up another clump of items around the room before leaving again. Tellion looked first at the images playing out on the primitive 2-dimensional screen, then at herself sitting in the chair. This was so strange to her, one who was used to constantly being ordered around and made to work gruelingly to meet allotted quotas under the fear of severe punishment, to be resting while another did work on her behalf. It was nice.

But it also bothered Tellion. She didn't feel right sitting there while Mark, who had already done so much for her in the short time she had been aware of him, worked to make the dwelling he called a 'home' satisfactory to what he thought she would approve of. No, she couldn't just sit there while he worked. It wasn't in her nature to sit back and do nothing while another worked to satisfy her.

Tellion moved the lever on the side of the chair, which caused the section that held up her legs to drop back down. Tellion rose from the chair and began to gather up the various items that were strewn about. Mark came walking back in after she had amassed a small pile in her arms. She walked over to Mark and offered the pile to him.

"Hey…" he said, looking at her offering to him. "you don't have to do that."

The only response Tellion could think of to his words was to smile. Mark responded with what Tellion hoped an expression of satisfaction. He smiled back. That made the warmth that Tellion had felt before in the core of the body she was inhabiting return to her and made her legs weak once again. Mark took the mass of garments in Tellion's hands from her.

"Come on." he said, making a gesture with his head. Tellion didn't know what it meant, but she decided to follow after him when he existed the room. She followed him to a small doorway that had a set of stairs that descended. Undeterred and curious, she stayed with his pace and followed him down the flight of stairs into a subterranean room the rested just underneath the dwelling Mark had called a 'home'. There were numerous assortments of various items that Tellion couldn't even begin to make sense of, and she didn't know if she wanted to even try in that moment. She was more focused on Mark and what he was doing. She watched him as he went over to a pair of cube like machines with openings on the tops of them. He tossed the garments into the opening at the top.

Tellion tried to document everything that he did, but Mark's actions were just too fast for her to follow. He poured some kind of liquid into the opening, then rapidly pressed a series of button on the top of the cube he was attending. A sudden, mechanical noise filled the room, causing Tellion to jump with fright at the sound. Mark was at her side in an instant, encasing her delicate frame in his powerful limbs.

"It's ok. It's ok." he kept repeating as he held her close to him.

It didn't matter that Tellion didn't know his words, because she was sure that Mark was trying to comfort her from her apparent fright at the unexpected mechanical noises. Again, she didn't know how to react from the mass of the confusing emotions that were racing all through her. She thought about pulling her arms around Mark to mimic his actions, it felt like the right thing to do, but Tellion just couldn't will herself to make her arms move.

Mark seemed to read her inability to react to his actions, and he broke his hold over her, with a bit of hesitation that Tellion noticed. He looked down at her, and his eyes made her lose her footing momentarily. He pushed her away slightly, much to Tellion's disappointment. She liked the feeling that came to her when he had his arms wrapped around her.

"I'm sorry." he said again. It was a phrase he had been saying a lot since she had first met him. Tellion really wished that she understood what his words meant, because she truly wanted to be able to respond to this.

As Mark increased the distance between them, Tellion heard the familiar sounds of water rushing through tubing. She twisted her head towards the mechanical cub, and made a face that had been natural when she had been in Tallaxia, but now had no idea how that expression seemed on her native one. The machine was some kind of washing station. They had similar machines on the pool ship to clean uniforms of Controllers that were required to wear garments, but she had little experience with those. Her job had been to clean the waste pipes…

Tellion shuddered at the unpleasant memory. That was not her life anymore. And she wasn't going back.

Just as she let that thought pass through her, Tellion's wandering eyes caught a glimpse of a strange cylinder object wedged into the far corner of the room. She didn't wait to see if going to it would upset Mark, she just felt drawn to it. Stepping in front of it, Tellion did nothing to some time as she took in the odd looking structure. She wasn't even really aware that Mark had come to her side until he spoke, which startled her momentarily.

"It's called a 'self-deprivation tank'." he spoke, sounding more like he was speaking to himself rather than her.

Not that any way he spoke to her really mattered. Trying to decipher even a few of his words had proven to be quite difficult. She was sure that it would be quite some time before they could really communicate. But, she was quickly learning how to understand what his facial expressions meant. By the reaction currently on Mark's face, he was clearly understanding that she didn't know what he was saying.

He sighed, walking over to the 'self-deprivation tank', as he called it, and lifted its lid. Tellion stepped closer and peered inside. It appeared almost hollow, with some padding on the bottom. Mark reached inside and patted his hand on the padding.

"It's supposed to be filled with water." he looked back at Tellion. "I thought…once you got out of the hospital, you could use it to mediate. Clear your head. Some of the people I talked to said it helped with people that suffered head injuries in their recovery."

When Tellion didn't respond verbally or with an expression, Mark made that weary noise and closed the cylinder. "Stupid idea I guess. But…I just needed something to give me what I needed to get through until you got better. I needed hope."

Hope. The way she heard him speak it was alien to her, but his tone, his body expressions…Tellion just instantly understood that word. She knew of hope. She had dreamt of it for almost her entire life. It was only until this night that she finally believed that hope was a real thing. And she somehow made Mark feel that wonderful sensation as well. Realizing that made the rhythm of her heart beat quicker with an unexpected shudder.

"H…ho…p…pe…" she weakly responded. Mark's eyes widened at her repeating his word.

"Do…do you understand what I'm saying?"

She didn't know exactly what kind of question Mark was asking her, but she did know that it was a question. Tellion took a hesitant step closer to him. She gently patted her chest.

"Hope." the word barely slipped from her partially opened lips. Tellion felt what she could only describe as an obstruction like feeling in her throat as she reached out a shaky hand and placed it on his chest. It was firmer than the body she was inhabiting. Much firmer. Understanding this realization made Tellion feel strange in so many ways that she couldn't understand.

And those feelings only grew more intense when Mark gently clasped his hand over her trembling hand. It made the breath seep from her lungs and her throat tighten. Mark lifted his other hand and pushed some of the hair that fallen across her cheeks behind her ear, which sent so many powerful trembles through Tellion's already feeble body. Mark really seemed to like doing that, and she also like the gesture. It made her feel…more than a simple lowly soldier.

"You have no idea how much I've hoped since that night…just to have you here again with me…"

He started to lean his face in towards hers. Was he…was he going to press his lips against hers again? Tellion so desperately wanted him to. She wanted to feel that explosive charge rush through her body again. It was the best experience that Tellion had had in her short and bitter life. Her eye lids slowly lowered as Mark drew closer, and she felt her own lips part slightly in anticipation. This life…here with Mark…was more than anything that she could have ever thought possible. It was almost like a…

"I missed you so much." Mark said, his breath tickling the sensitive skin of her mouth. "Susan."

Tellion's eyes shot open when she heard the name.

Susan.

SUSAN!

Tellion instantly pulled away from Mark and turned her back to him. But not because of anything that he did. It was what SHE had done. Tellion weakly looked around the room, for what she wasn't sure. Maybe something that could give her comfort in that moment of clarity. There was nothing to be found anywhere in that room, or in the dwelling that Tellion knew of that would do that. Because…in the essence of her true self, Tellion knew the awful, painful truth.

 _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._ Tellion thought to herself. _It's not really 'me' he's worried about. It's Susan._ _He thinks I'm his Susan. His 'wife'._ Tellion thought to herself as the immense weight of guilt pressed down on her torn emotional state. _It's not me that he's behaving this way for._

Tellion looked down at the hands that weren't her own, through the eyes that weren't her own, in the body that wasn't her own. This wasn't her life. This wasn't her home. And Mark was not 'her' husband. All of that was Susan's. And she had taken that away from her. She was a thief of Susan's life.

 _Where are you Susan?_ Tellion screamed, letting her mental cry rush throughout every part of the mind she was attached to. _Why can't I find you? You're supposed to be here with me. I want you here with me, so I can release control over your body and you can speak to him._ _It's you that he thinks he's showing these feelings to. I got us out of that place, but…I need you to answer me! It's you that Mark needs to be with, he cares so much about you, more than I've ever seen a being care for another. It's you he deserves to be with. Not me. I'm just some parasite moving your body like a puppet. I just stole your life…and I need to find you…so that I can give it back to you. I don't deserve this, I don't deserve this life. I don't deserve him…_

But Susan still didn't answer. She was gone. Lost somewhere deep in the core of the brain, in a place that Tellion just didn't know how to find. And it upset her so much in that moment to not be able to speak to her new host. But she just had to be there, hidden or lost somewhere in her own mind in a place that Tellion just hadn't had the time to thoroughly look through. But Tellion needed to find her. As soon as possible. She needed to give Susan her life back. It was the only right thing that she could do.

As Tellion dwelled on this, and felt her own sadness from her actions, those bitterly stinging tears of emotional pain began to seep from her eyes again and she started to have trouble with her regular breathing patterns. Before she could even process her what was happening to this body in conjunction with her own shaken emotional state, Tellion felt Mark's strong arms encase her shaking form. She tried, for only the most microscopic moment, to pull away from him in a van effort to distance herself from a being that she knew she had no right to be close to. But as his firm, yet surprisingly gentle, grip pulled her into him, Tellion lost all will to resist. She didn't know what she was thinking in those next few moments, nor did she want to. All she really did know was that she didn't want to fight the way Mark was holding her close to him.

"Hey, hey." he spoke softly into her ear as his hands moved back and forth across the edges of her shoulders. "I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry."

Tellion dipped her head at his words, not knowing what he was saying, yet feeling the soothing tone in his voice. She almost blurted out in her native Gedd/Yeerk language to let go of her, but Tellion knew that would instantly betray what she was to him and forced her words down. She wanted to get away from him, but at the same time, she didn't. What was happening to her?

"I can't even begin to imagine how scary this has all got to be for you." Mark spoke again in his native tounge. "It's going to be a long, hard road ahead for us. But I promise I'll be there for you every step of the way."

Tellion didn't do anything after he spoke that to her. Feeling him holding her, the affection that he was displaying, the warm alien sensations it was awakening within her spirit. She just…stood there and let Mark hold her. She willingly surrendered herself to those feelings, and his touch. But none of that took away the guilt that was also lurking within her.

 _I'm sorry Susan…_ Tellion thought as a weariness came over her.

It was a fatigue unlike any that she had ever felt before in her whole existence. Not like the physical strain that came upon overuse of the host body that she was using, but in Tellion herself. She was tired. So very, very tired.

As Tellion felt her invertebrate body begin to lose control over Susan's, she collapsed in Mark's grip. Before she knew what was happening, he swung one of his arms down and scooped her up off the ground. Tellion was only vaguely aware of herself being held in his grip and him carrying her up the stairs. Her eye lids were growing heavy and she felt herself losing even more control over both Susan's body and herself in ways that she had never experienced before. She should have felt terrified by this, but somehow, being carried in Mark's arms, she wasn't.

She was barely aware of anything by the time Mark brought her to a bed somewhere and gently placed her on it. Her head was rested against a firm but soft item, which only added to her fatigue. Tellion could barely keep her eyes open as she looked up at Mark, who had sat in a chair right beside her. The last thing she saw as she felt herself drift away was him looking down on her with a caring yet concerned smile. Then her eyes finally shut and Tellion…went somewhere else.

 _If I die now, she thought, at least I will die happy._ Tellion thought.

Tellion 'felt' herself falling, going someplace that she had never known of. It reminded her somewhat of all the times she had gone into that semi-dormant state when her Gedd host and Tallaxia had needed to sleep. Only this time, she wasn't resting on a plane of consciousness above their dream cycle, she had fallen over that edge, into something else.

 _Where am I?_ Tellion thought as she felt herself continuing to drift aimlessly, neither in gravity induced free fall, nor having herself rest upon solid ground. _What is this?_

 _It's what you've always wanted._ A low, hideous voice echoed out from all around her. _It's the thing all Yeerks like you witness from afar, and so desperately desire to experience, yet never, ever can. It's a dream._

 _A…dream?_ Tellion thought. Was that possible? Could she really…be dreaming?

 _Of course it is._ The voice spoke to her. _What else could it be? Congratulates, you're the first Yeerk to enter this plane of existence, at least alive, Tellion 7…8…5…4…_

Hearing her 'real' name being spoken to her sent a spike of fear directly into Tellion. No one could know that name. Unless…

 _Who are you?_ Tellion said.

 _That doesn't really matter anymore who I am. All that really matters now is who you are, and it disgusts me to see what you've done to yourself._

 _What does that mean?_

As she asked that question, Tellion felt herself drawn away from 'her' body. She looked at herself from afar. It was Susan's body. The body that she had now called her own. It was beautiful, she guessed. She wasn't a very good judge of native beauty. But it was enough to make Mark feel drawn to her. As she watched, Susan's body shifted away, replaced first by her old Gedd host, then Tallaxia.

 _So this is what you've chosen to make of yourself? You were a master of others, a conqueror of life itself. Able to bend other lifeforms to your very will, and this is what you chose to do with that gift? Cast it all aside, for what? Some pathetic, vague attempt to make yourself into something that you were never meant to be?_

To Tellion's horror, she watched Tallaxia's form shift and mold down into a disgusting, vile looking slug like being. Her true form.

 _I was no conqueror, I was a slave master!_ Tellion shouted. _I stole the lives of others! That's nothing to revel in. That's nothing to be proud of! I didn't want any part of that life anymore._

 _And now what are you?_ The voice said, almost mockingly to her. _Do you believe yourself any better than you were as a soldier of the Yeerk Empire? YOU stole this native's life. You stole her body, her home, her 'husband'._

 _I didn't steal anything!_ Tellion countered desperately. _Not intentionally. I just wanted to escape. I…didn't mean for any of this to happen._

 _Then why don't you do the 'noble' thing and tell that native male the truth?_ The voice continued. _Because you know the real truth. Deep down, you know what would happen. If he were to see you, the real you, he would crush and grind you under his heel in disgust. Do you really believe anything that you do from this moment on will ever change that?_

 _You don't know that!_ Tellion shouted, still not sure where this voice was coming from, only that she wanted to get away from it. Because in so many ways that she couldn't understand, the tone felt so familiar to her, almost as if she were talking to herself. But she didn't know how to find a way to escape from this place.

 _So this is what you've chosen to make of yourself? What a pathetic, complete waste…of my legacy…_

 _You're what?_

 _You'll never escape your fate, Tellion 7854._ The voice mocked at her. _No matter where you go. No matter how hard you try to hide yourself, or how desperately you try to lie about what you are and were meant to be, you'll never be free of your true self. Because…a part of me will ALWAYS exist inside of you. And nothing you can do will ever change that Tellion 7854. You will always be a part of my legacy._

 _Go away!_ Tellion screamed desperately.

 _Enjoy 'your' life Tellion. As long as you can continue to live this lie. And good luck finding Susan. I'm sure if you ever manage to, she'll be thrilled to learn of how you have stolen her life, and her husband._

 _No!_ Tellion screamed as she felt herself being pulled away from this place, and mercifully the haunting voice that was able to call out to her.

She awoke with a startled scream, sitting upright abruptly in the bed. Tellion was breathing heavily, with wetness saturating her skin. She looked about the small room wildly, almost not believing that she had really come back. Tellion weakly lifted her tiny hands and stared at them as they trembled.

What had just happened to her? Had that really been…a dream? Had she, a Yeerk, really just dreamed? Yes, she had. But it was not what she had thought it would be. It wasn't like anything that she thought it would be. It had been so terrifying. And that voice…

Tellion shuddered and pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around her bent legs. What had that voice been? How had it known her name? And what did it mean by saying that she was a part of 'it's' legacy? And Susan…

So many questions, so many fears, and no real answers for any of them. Tellion felt so very confused, lost, and alone in that moment that she almost wished that she hadn't taken that fall from the container to end up in this life.

As she thought this, the door to the room open and Mark came rushing in. He was caring a steaming bowl of something in his hands which he promptly placed on a nearby piece of furniture.

"I heard you scream from downstairs. Are you ok?" he said, sitting next to her and placing his hand on the side of her face. "You're trembling. What…"

Tellion didn't let him finish. She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him the way he had done to her earlier. Mark hesitated from her actions for only a moment before pulling his own arms around her. Tellion buried her face in his shoulder, ignoring everything else in the world, even Mark's own words as she desperately tried to forget what had just happened to her.

He held her close for what felt like a very long time, until Tellion felt herself calm down enough to ease her grip over him. When she pulled back, Mark looked at her with those concerned eyes.

"Are you ok?"

Tellion instinctively nodded her head, which caused Mark to give her that warm smile of his. He pulled her head closer to him and gently pressed his lips against her forehead, sending a spasm of tingles through Tellion before he weakly pulled away from her and walked over to a small part of the adjacent wall. Before Tellion could wonder what he was doing, Mark pulled back two pieces of cloth, and bright light flooded the room. Tellion shielded her eyes for a moment of pure fright. It was a fleeting moment that faded the moment Tellion realized that what she was seeing was the light of the star that this little planet orbited.

She had never seen the warm, comforting yellow hue before. It was so…she didn't have words for it, other than she felt herself feeling a sense of joy from basking in the light. Mark seemed satisfied with her actions. He walked over to the small bowl that he had placed by the door and grabbed it. He brought it to Tellion and placed it in her lap.

"Here." He said with a smile. "I thought…you might be hungry. It's been a while since you really ate anything."

Tellion looked down at the contents. It was some kind of mushy material, nothing like the nutrition and protein bars the empire supplied to her when she had been in her prior hosts. It didn't look all that appeasing. But there was something in its smell. Its aroma invaded her nostrils, flooding through her host body, and into Tellion. Her mouth began to flood with saliva the more she smelled this strange brew. Her stomach rumbled mightily, and it made her want to throw the spoon out of the substance and swallow it all down in one gulp. Still, she weakly scooped up a small portion of it and held it to her face. She was starting to lose all sense of herself as those smells continued to draw her to this substance. It was drawing her to it, almost calling her to consume it.

"I'm not that much of a cook." Mark said to her, but she barely heard him talking to her. All of her attention was focused on this meal that was right in front of her.

"But I know that this was your favorite quick meal in the morning. I thought some familiarity would help you remember."

Tellion was barely able to pull her gaze from the trembling spoon that was dangling just a few precious spaces from her mouth, which had become saturated with saliva to the point that Tellion was about to start drooling over herself. Mark almost seemed to be amused by her actions. As she looked him, Mark's smile grew wider with a sense of satisfaction.

"It's instant ginger and maple oatmeal." he told her.


	6. A Sad Reunion

Tellion couldn't break her gaze from the mushy contents that trembled in front of her face. Never before in her entire life had she ever desired something as much as this, and she couldn't understand why. Food was not supposed to have this much hold over her. All it was supposed to be was the fuel that made whatever body she was inhabiting continue to function. But not this stuff. It was different. There was just…something about this food…

It was almost as if the edible goop was calling out to her. Begging Tellion to consume it. To let it flood into her stomach cavity, be absorbed by her host, and have its very essence flow through Susan's body, into her brain, and flow into Tellion's own body. She always received minor exchange of nutrients when her control tendrils were conntected to a host's brain. She had never really put any more thought to it than any creature put into breathing, but this time it was so different.

Tellion couldn't remember if she had ever wanted anything more than this exchange in her whole life.

Barely aware of Mark's smiling face, Tellion opened her mouth and led the shaking spoon towards her saliva filled maw. This…this was surely to be a blissful experience. What else could it possibly be?

 **NO!**

The word echoed all through the room, pressing down all around Susan's body and piercing through it, the full weight of those two letters speared into Tellion's own body. She instantly recognized that voice. It almost commanded her to cease her attempt to consume the goop held in her shakey hand. And Tellion answered it. The spoon halted just millimeters from her opened mouth.

Mark frowned. "Something wrong?"

But Tellion didn't acknowledge that he even spoke to her. Her eyes went wide from the voice.

 _You…_ she said in her own head.

 **Don't eat it.**

 _But…the smell…_

 **You musn't eat it, Tellion. Your life depends on it. So does Mark's.**

 _Mark? What does Mark have to do with this food?_

 **I can't tell you anymore that what has already been said. And it's cost me so much just to speak to you now. I won't be able to do so again, not until after…**

 _After what?_ Tellion demanded. _What are you talking about?_

 **I've already told you too much.** The voice said, its volume clearly growning fainter, returning to wherever it was that it had originally come from. **Don't eat the Ginger Maple oatmeal. Ever. Not unless you want to lose all that you have just gained. And prepare yourself for what is to come. I…have faith in you.**

 _What's coming?_ Tellion demanded. _What are you talking about?_

There was no further answer to the questions that only served to make Tellion even more confused than she already was. And with that, the voice was gone once more. Tellion wildly looked around, already knowing that it was foolish to search for what had been speaking to her. The voice had no body, or at least one that it had yet to reveal to her.

A snapping of fingers in front of her face brought Tellion back to the moment. She turned her bewildered eyes to Mark, who was already looking at her with that familiar concern in his eyes. He spoke to her, in words that she still did not understand. Tellion barely heard him, even though he was right next to her. Her eyes darted back to the spoon that was in her unsteady hands. The alluring smells were still there, assaulting all of her senses.

Then she remembered the warning.

Tellion instantly plunged the spoon into the bowl and handed it back to Mark, least she loose her last bit of willpower to keep herself from eating whatever that substance was. Even as Mark looked at her with confusion, Tellion scooted to the other side of the bed, making it non-verbally clear that she did not desire the contents. But also, she wanted to get as far away from those intoxicating smells as she could. She didn't know how much longer she could keep control over herself.

"You…don't want it?" he asked, the sadness clearly evident in his voice.

Tellion shook her head furiously, reassuring him that she did indeed not want it. She hated to see the look that came over him as his head lowered, it made her insides feel like they were twisting and contorting from seeing him like. And also knowing that it was she that made him act that way only made those feelings worse. Tellion wished that she could really communicate with Mark, to make him understand that she wasn't in any way rejecting his attempts to please her. But she very much doubted that he would understand that she was following advice from voice that didn't have a body to match it. Even among Yeerks, that would be an understanding for having a sickness of the mind.

Yet, as quick as Mark's sorrow appeared on his face, it vanished just as fast. He looked at Tellion and gave her that comforting smile once more. The one that made her throat tighten and her heart beat faster.

"Ok. I guess it was silly to think that you would just like it just because of…well never mind. I can make something else. Do you want me to?"

Tellion could only guess that he was offering her something else to consume, so she gave him a quick nod. Mark's smile broadened.

"Ok then, I'll see what the master chief can whip up." He started to leave the room, but stopped at the doorway and looked back at her.

"Never really did like this stuff." he said, pointing at the bowl in his hands. "But I'll eat it anyway. Won't be sorry to not have to get anymore once this is gone. You just stay in bed and relax. I'll be back up before you know it."

And with that, he was gone. She still didn't know all those words he had spoken, but Tellion had already learned what 'you' and 'stay' and 'bed' meant. She could only summarize that Mark intended for her to remain laid out on the bed, or at least in the room, and do nothing but wait for him to return. Tellion had to admit, having the ability to just lay around and do nothing was surprisingly desirable to her. Still, despite the comfort of the bed, comfort that was so alien to Tellion's experience, and she just couldn't forget how the smell of that substance had enticed her so much. Tellion felt her new body bristling with energy, a sort of restlessness that she couldn't shake herself from. Hopping off of the bed, Tellion began to walk about the interior of the room and started to both observe and make note of everything that was within the four walled space.

There were so many things everywhere. Small wooden boxes variously placed around the room, with all kinds of odd assortments of little things placed on top of them. Tellion inspected each of the wooden boxes, pulling out the shelves to see what was inside. All Tellion found was large clumps of mixed clothing. Some looked familiar to the kind that she was still wearing, others appeared to be larger and more suited for Mark. So it seemed that the sleeping area also doubled as the garment storing quarters. Tellion guessed that made sense, but in truth she was still having trouble understanding clothing all together.

Still, Tellion was willing to focus all of her thoughts on all the things that were around her, anything that would help her forget whatever that sweet smelling substance was that the voice had warned her about. But she just couldn't shake away the alluring hold that those smells had on her nostrils. She looked out the window in a desperate bid to do just forget it. When she stepped over to the window, and saw what lay beyond, it did indeed make Tellion forget. Forget about that intoxicating substance, about her escape from the Empire, even that she was a Yeerk inhabiting a native female's body.

Just for a moment.

The bright blue sky, the white puffy clouds drifting through the air, the bristling green saturated foliage everywhere…left Tellion stunned. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the scope of it all. This world…she had never realized just how amazing it was. Oh how Tellion wished that she had this kind of sight when she had been stationed up on the Pool Ship. To think of what the planet must have looked like from that high up in space…

There were no real words that Tellion knew of to describe what she was seeing. Beautiful, maybe. But that didn't seem grand enough of a statement to place upon the sheer encompassing image of this world. She turned away from the window, knowing that the scale of the sights were too much for her to handle for the moment. As she did, Tellion noticed something odd resting on one of the smaller boxes next to the bed.

Unable to help herself, in fact even felling drawn to it, she walked over and picked up the tiny object. And instantly wished that she hadn't. Resting in her trembling hands…was a frozen image of her and Mark. They were wearing outfits completely different that the kind that she was currently clothed in and the kind that she had seen Mark wearing. Tellion couldn't help but feel herself being mesmerized by observe every last little detail of this image.

The garments she was wearing had given her an almost other worldly apparatus of divinity. Strange that a completely plain and white outfit could do that, but it did. There was some kind of transparent material that she had over her head that had been pulled back, but it completely extenuated the facial features to look even more stunning. And the face was one that Tellion knew that she would never forget for the rest of her days. Because it was so bright and happy, the smile was one of the most sincere ones that Tellion had ever seen. So vibrant, so full of life, so full of joy. None of the things that Tellion had ever known of in her own life.

Unable to help herself, Tellion tranced the tips of her fingers across the still image of that face. She almost felt as if in that moment, that she could reach across space and time, and connect herself to Susan in a way that she was completely unable to in the present state. Staring down at that image, Tellion felt her eyes momentarily shift over to the image of Mark. His face was equally bright and joyful as Susan's, just how he had appeared ever since Tellion had first met him. And it was truly because both Mark and Susan were looking deeply at each other in that captured moment, as if they were seeing beyond the flesh that was before them and peering into something deeper that lay within, something that Tellion didn't understand. Seeing that only made Tellion grip the edges of the wooden frame that surrounded the frozen image tightly. A sad, weary sigh escaped her lips as she quickly turned the image back face down. And a few tear drops fell from her face as the truth hit deep within Tellion's spirit.

That image, that moment, those emotions forever captured and frozen in time…that wasn't her. She wasn't that native. She hadn't worn that magnificent outfit, she hadn't given that smile that day, she hadn't held Mark that way either. She hadn't stared into his eyes with look that was seeing beyond the physical. She hadn't done any of that. It had all been Susan's life, not hers.

She had no memory of that moment. Nor any of Susan's life. Tellion had nothing. It was just like that mysterious, creepy voice from her dream had told her. She had stolen this life from Susan, and was now pretending to be something, and someone, that she just wasn't. She was still a thief of life that she didn't deserve.

 _No!_ Tellion shouted internally to herself. _That's not who I am!_

She looked up from the overturned image and glanced around the room.

She was a Yeerk, but she was not like that. She was not a thief, or a conqueror. And she certainly wasn't a slave master, not anymore. Tellion vowed to herself that no matter how long it took her, or how deep she had to delve into this mind she was connected to, she would find Susan. She would find where ever it was that Susan was lost in her own mind, rescue her, and bring her back to her beloved Mark. Even if Susan were to never forgive Tellion for the time that she stole with Mark, Tellion would understand that. And if she had to reduce herself to forever leaving this body in order to gain attonement for that, Tellion would willingly embrace that fate if it meant that she could reunite the two of them. For if Tellion had ever known of two beings that belonged together, it was Susan and Mark.

Tellion sat in a nearby chair, took a deep breath, and shut her eyes. She then detached all of her control tendrils that connected to the sensory parts of Susan's mind. Once all ocular and other sensory distractions had been eliminated from her thought process, Tellion began to send out hundreds of electrical pulses into Susan's brain. They hadn't worked before, but she also hadn't been really trying to look for Susan. She had been so mesmerized by the entire experiences of last night that the thought hadn't truly occurred to her to really try. Now she was on a mission of the utmost conviction of her conscious.

She was going to find Susan.

As the multitude of electrical pulses shot out in their almost endless waves, Tellion waited and observed each one that rippled back to her. Each time she felt that residual wave of pulses, she hoped that there would be something that would echo back. A faint, even microscopic ripple of a response would make her jump with jubilation. But as wave after wave came back to her, with nothing but her own impulses, Tellion felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into a pit of despair. Again and again, emptiness was her response, and it only added to Tellion's growing sorrow.

After what felt like the hundred thousandth time she sent out her search pulse, with nothing to respond to her, she reconnected her control tendrils to the brain's sensory nerves. Tellion's eyes shot open. A high pitched, barely audible cry passed her mouth as she lightly hit the side of her head.

Why? Why couldn't she find Susan? What was wrong with her brain so that she couldn't speak to her? What was wrong with HER?

With so many questions, and no apparent answers, Tellion's head fell into her hands in complete despair. Unable to control herself, Tellion began to weep at her utter failure. She felt so lost and alone in that moment, much like Susan was likely feeling as well. If only she could just find her, then Tellion was sure that everything would somehow right itself within her life, as well as Susan's.

The sounds of approaching footsteps brought Tellion out of her sad state. She quickly whipped away her tears as Mark opened the door. Despite her immense guilt, Tellion knew that she had to keep the illusion up that she was Susan, least she put both of them and Mark in unnecessary danger. Mark's face appeared to brighten when he saw that she was out of the bed, similar to how it had been in that picture…

"Ready for breakfast?" he asked.

Tellion just nodded, not fully sure what 'breakfast' was. She was absolutely aware of how her chest tightened when he took her hand and pulled her up out of the chair. Unable to really think in the next moment, Tellion just let Mark led her out of the room, through a small hallway, down a flight of stairs, and into a room that she had yet to see in this dwelling. But its interior was not the first thing that Tellion noticed. It was the smells.

The odors that lingered in the air were not nearly as potent as the ones that had assaulted her senses from that bowl of mush called oatmeal, but they made her stomach rumble. She wondered just how long it had been since Susan had really eaten.

Mark brought her over to a round table with a thin layer of glass that had some kind of covers, similar to the kind that had been over the window in the bedroom, that went over that were pulled back. This allowed Tellion to look at the world that lay just beyond that puny layer of fabricated sand. But she did her best to ignore what lay beyond, just because she knew how distracting it all was. She saw a round object resting on the surface of the table, with various things placed in its center.

"It's a plate." Mark said, pointing at the circular object.

"Plate." Tellion repeated as she sat down in front of the 'plate'.

Mark picked up two metal objects and showed them two her. Tellion was easily able to identify the knife when Mark said the word. Knives were very common in the Empire, especially among the lower ranking officers that didn't have Hork-Bajir bodies. The other he called a fork, which seemed like a silly name to Tellion for something the appeared to be a miniature spear. But she was in his world now, not hers. And she needed to pay attention to everything that he was telling her. The sooner she learned how to communicate with him, the easier both of their lives would be.

She didn't resist when he stepped behind her and took Tellion's hands in his own. She just sat there, with her heart pounding once again against her rib cage, as he moved her hands in motions to hold and cut and scoop and spear the apparent food that was before her. Mark called it eggs, bacon, and toast. Tellion had a very hard time understanding which was which, but the smells that filled her nostrils made such a thing a moot point to Tellion.

She speared a small portion of the semi-solid substance that she thought Mark called 'eggs' and with a bit of careful and cautious movement, she placed them in her mouth. And her world was once again transformed in a way that Tellion could have never, ever expected. Her mouth, especially her tongue, was assaulted with a multitude of sensations that made her entire jaw quiver with delight.

Some kind of noise came from Tellion as she rapidly chewed the substance in her mouth, so much so that a few bits of it fell out and back on to the plate.

"Hey silly." Mark said, taking a thin material and whipping it across her mouth, which both got rid of the bits of food she had lost and sent a great tremor throughout her body. "You got to chew with your mouth closed. Like this."

She watched him chew with his lips closed. It seemed pointless to her to take such care to keep ones mouth closed just to eat, but it did seem proper native edicate to eat like that. Tellion closed her lips and continued chewing the way Mark had shown her. Doing that proved harder than Tellion had first thought. The sensations that were exploding all through the insides of her mouth were driving Tellion to the point of near jubilation. She was almost disappointed when she had to finally swallow the eggs.

The instant she had though, Tellion almost attacked the remaining food laid out before her. Scoop after joyous scoop she continued to revel in the amazing experience of what native food was doing to her mouth. Mark appeared happy by the way she almost ravenously ate what was on the plate.

"Like the taste huh?" he asked.

Tellion looked up at him, clearly showing him that she didn't understand what he had said to her. Mark patted his lips and repeated 'taste'. It only took her a moment to realize that 'taste' meant the wonderful sensations that were exploding all through her mouth. She smiled at him, patting her own lips in response.

"Like taste." she told him.

"I'm glad to know that." he said. "I never really was much of a chief."

He took the plate away from her once she had finished, over to an area with a sink, and began running water over it. Tellion watched as he took something and scrubbed vigorously across its surface. Tellion continued watching him as he worked, finally understanding that he was cleaning off what little traces of food she had left on the plate. Again, Tellion observed him and remembered his actions. No matter how trivial, she had to understand every part of what it meant to be a native if she wanted to keep the truth of who she was hidden.

Mark noticed her watching him. He weakly shrugged his shoulders. "Not much of an entertaining show, is it?"

Tellion mimicked his action by shrugging her own shoulders, also wishing that she knew what that action meant. Mark didn't seem to really care, because he walked over to Tellion and pulled her up from the chair. He nervously, and cautiously, placed his arms around Tellion and pulled her close to him. She didn't offer any resistance to his action. Mark encasing his arms around her was something that Tellion was starting to really come to enjoy. And she had only known him for less than a day.

Even as she enjoyed Mark's display of care for her, deep within her own mind Tellion couldn't shake that familiar sting of guilt that had yet to fade from her spirit. Again, she knew that Mark thought he was doing these things, and acting the way he did, for Susan, not really for her. Despite knowing that, Tellion tried to convince herself that her actions, her willingness to continue to pass herself off as Susan, were justified.

 _I'm not going to do this forever_. She spoke with total assurance of her intentions. _I'm just doing this until I can find you Susan. It's just better for Mark to not think something is wrong. Once I rescue you, I'll reunite you with Mark…and then I'll never get between you two ever again. I promise._

Yes. That was exactly what she would do, Tellion reaffirmed herself. Despite what that hideous voice from her 'dream' had proclaimed, they didn't know Tellion. Or her true desires. She was not a thief or a slave master, not anymore. She was merely protecting Susan and Mark's lives that they had clearly formed in the time since before she had been made aware of them. And she would bring them together again, somehow. And of course, she would leave them to whatever lives they had been living since before she entered Susan once that happened.

But then why did she feel something else from this proclamation to herself? Why was there…sadness that seeped into her spirit at the thought of separating herself from the two of them? No, not really them. Just Mark. Why was she feeling a sense of sorrow at the thought of bringing Susan back to her beloved Mark, and leaving them to their happy and peaceful lives together? It was what she believed was the right thing to do, and yet the thought of not being around Mark caused a sense of emptiness in Tellion and grief.

 _Oh dammit,_ she thought. _Why is this all so confusing?_

Nothing felt like the right choice to her anymore. No matter what she seemed to do, Tellion would suffer such great emotional pain. It was different than the kind of emotion pain that she felt when she had finally come to understand what she had done to Tallaxia, and how much it hurt for Tellion to finally part ways with her. But Tellion just somehow sensed that these new sensations would hurt her spirit just as much, if not more.

As she pondered this, a sort of alarm rang all through the dwelling. It was a single tone, low and very non-threatening. Much different than the bellowing sirens that went off in the Yeerk Pool when danger was near. But it was still enough to startle Tellion and make her jump out of Mark's arms.

Tellion only had to take one look at Mark's face to know that he was just as surprised by the alarm as well. He opened his mouth to speak, but the alarm rang again. And again. And again.

"What the…" he muttered to himself as he exited the room.

Tellion cautiously followed him, stopping at the doorway to keep herself half hidden from view.

Who could that be? She thought with worry. Had the…had the Yeerk hunter squads found her?

The hunter squads were groups of Yeerks that specialized in intelligence and suppression efforts, on any world that the Empire operated on. Their skills at finding any supposed Yeerk traitors or hosts that had managed to escape enslavement were only surpassed by their ruthlessness. They were the Yeerks that would destroy anything, and anyone, in order to protect the plans of the Empire. And upon this world the Empire's ultimate goal was to avoid discovery by the natives of the invasion until it was too late.

If any Yeerk had bothered after the Andalite attack to really look into what had happened, then they might have realized that a single Yeerk had been taken from the pool before the destruction of the Yeerk Pool. And if they were able to link that event to what Mark had called a 'miracle' of Susan's unexpected recovery, then that might mean…

 _No, Mark._ Tellion thought to herself, fighting with all her willpower to not scream her warnings to him in her Gedd/Yeerk tongue. _Don't open the door. They'll kill you or worse._

"NO!" she screamed at him as loudly as her voice would let her.

Mark turned to her, his face full of bewilderment. And it was in that same moment that he opened the door. And a in the next instant group of bodies pushed past him and into the dwelling.

Tellion instantly retreated into the room, both out of terror at what was about to happen to her, but also because she couldn't bring herself to see what would happen to Mark. He was about to die, or forever lose himself as a prisoner in his own body to a Yeerk. And it was her fault.

It was all her fault.

NO! She couldn't let that happen to him. She wouldn't! He meant…well, Tellion didn't really know what Mark really meant to her. Only that she care for him more than she had ever felt herself care for another being. Even Aftran. Even Tallaxia. She would save him!

Tellion desperately searched the room for some kind of weapon. Anything that she could use to protect Mark. She spotted some kind of metal object hanging from a hook on nearby on the wall and grasped it. Before she thought or even realized what she was doing, Tellion rushed into the room with the improvised weapon. What she saw made her instantly stop.

Mark was not fighting with the three natives that had stormed into the dwelling. Instead he was speaking rapidly to them, making gestures that she hadn't seen before and didn't know what they meant. The three natives were speaking to him in equally rapid words, making similar gestures. Then they turned their attention in her direction. Tellion saw their faces go from shocked to an expression similar to the kind Mark had displayed the previous night when he had first seen her up and moving in that healing center.

"Susan!" they all shouted in unison, rushing towards her.

Tellion had a fleeting thought of lifting the metal object she was carrying in a desperate attempt to defend herself, but they were upon her before she could act.

The two at the front appeared older, yet they reached her first, and threw their arms around her. They squeezed her tightly, just like Mark had done so many times already. They also pressed their lips several times on her cheeks and at various spaces on her head. They were not like the long, drawn out one that Mark had done on their first encounter, but rather quick and rapid pecks. As Tellion reeled from the unexpected onslaught of affection from the two natives, they stepped aside so Tellion could see the third one approach.

This native was smaller than the other two, but not by much. And clearly a female just like Susan. Tellion calculated this native to be roughly two thirds her host's size, which made her younger. She also noticed a few similarities in her looks and the ones Tellion had seen in Susan when Tellion had looked at herself in the mirror. Same skin tone, roughly the same body shape. Her chest also wasn't as noticeable as Susan's, but Tellion could only guess that was due to her being younger. Tellion did instantly notice was that her hair was not the dark red hue that Susan had. It was more of a brown colored tone. The one thing that she also recognized was that her eyes were the same color as Susan's. Almost an exact match. It gave Tellion the impression that she was staring into a reflection of her own eyes.

"Suzie?" she spoke weakly, almost hesitant to move closer to her. "Is it…is it really you?"

Tellion didn't know what the words meant, or what a 'Suzie' was. She didn't know why, but her head bobbed at the question. And the smaller native cried out 'Suzie' again and threw her arms around Tellion's neck.

"I'm…I'm so glad you're back!" She cried into Tellion's shoulder. "I thought…"

Her smaller head twisted up to look Tellion directly in the face. "I thought you were gone forever…big sis."

Suzie. Big sis. What were these words? What did they mean to her host Susan? Tellion just didn't understand any of this.

Then it all hit her in that next moment as if she had been smacked with Visser Three's tail blade. From the memories that she had obtained from Tallaxia, the ones before she lost her freedom to the Empire, were similar to what she was seeing in these three natives. They were…Susan's family.

Then the two older ones who kept speaking to her as she looked at them, both speaking too quickly for Tellion to decipher the words, must have been Susan's parents. And the younger one was Susan's sibling.

Parents and siblings. Such a strange, alien concept to Tellion. Yes, she did have hundreds of brood brothers and sisters, but there was nothing in the way of any kind of bond between her and any of them. They all acknowledged that they all came from the death of the three Yeerks that birthed them, but that was where their connection with each other really ended. Tellion had never interacted, or even really spoken to any of the members of her brood since her first day of self-awareness. The kinds of bonds that existed between Tallaxia and her family, as well as Susan's, were things that Yeerks knew very little of.

But here, seeing the absolute affection that these three were displaying to her, it made Tellion momentarily feel remorse for not trying to bond with her mutual genetic kin. Maybe if she had dared to do something different than other Yeerks had always done earlier in her life, then she might not have felt so alone until the day she had met Aftran. Yet, what if's were pointless in her way of thinking. She couldn't reverse time and undo the mistakes of her past, she could only learn from them and better herself as she moved forward into the future.

As she thought of this strange contemplation, Mark pushed himself between her and Susan's family. He looked at her with a strange expression that appeared to be humorous, at least that's what she thought it meant.

"Susan," he said with a smile that revealed a bit of his teeth as he grasped the metal object from her hand, "what the heck were you planning on doing with this egg beater?"

Tellion didn't know what an 'egg beater' was, but judging by all of their reactions, Tellion could only guess that it such a non-threatening item that it was considered by them to be silly to even be considered as a weapon.

Mark turned his attention to Susan's family as Tellion backed away slightly.

"Linda, Arthur." he said, addressing directly the two older natives. "I really wished you had called before coming over. I could have given you some warning…"

"We heard about the shooting at the hospital." The male named Arthur said. "Something about a crazed drug nut rampaging through the building. I heard on the news this morning that the police cornered him in a building not far away and killed him in a shootout."

"We called the hospital to see if Susan was alright." The one called Linda said. "They told us that she had miraculously woke up and that you had checked her out last night."

"Yes, but…" Mark tried to say.

"How could you not tell us that our baby was back!?" Linda exclaimed, putting her arm around a very nervous Tellion.

"I really am sorry about this mom." he said. "But there's something that you need to know…"

Mark pulled Susan's parents away and began to speak to them in a low voice. Again, Tellion didn't understand why he did that. She didn't understand hardly any of their words, so it was pointless to act like they needed to speak where she couldn't hear them. When they had pulled away, the younger one moved closer to her.

"Suzie?" she said, staring at her with a look that was so strangely similar to the kind that Mark had given her the other night when they first met. "Don't you…don't you know who I am?"

Tellion didn't know the exact words, but the question was similar to the one Mark had asked Tellion after he had pressed his lips against hers. She was asking if Tellion understood who this sibling was. It pained Tellion so much to shake her head from side to side in that next instant, and see the obvious sorrow appear on the younger native's face from her response.

Even though there was sadness on her face, she still didn't hesitate to approach Tellion. "It's me, Ellaine. Your little sister."

"Sss…siiisss…ttteerrrr." Tellion mouthed the word, trying it out while also attempting to understand it. It felt like a strange word, yet it also felt very natural to speak it to her. "Sister."

Ellaine smiled. "Yeah. That's right."

She lightly patted Tellion's chest right above where she felt the heart was. "You." Ellaine said, then also patted her chest. "Me. Sisters."

So, 'you' meant referring to the individual opposite to them when a native was speaking to another, and 'me' meant when they were referring to themselves. Tellion made a quick metal note to process and remember that understanding. And clearly 'sister' was the family bond between siblings when they were both female. That's what Tellion hoped that she understood it meant.

Ellaine encased both of her smaller hands over Tellion's, her eyes shined with a sort of look that Tellion could only believe meant hope.

"You and me," Ellaine said with a bright smile. "Sisters forever. Nothing's ever going to change that."

Tellion didn't know what to do in that moment except smile back at her. She truly didn't understand this bond that Ellaine clearly felt for Susan, but in that instant, Tellion felt something. A connection of sorts, no that she herself had never really felt before. It was a forming of a bridge of emotion between her and Susan's sister Ellaine. She wasn't truly Susan, but that didn't matter to her, not now. Not with what Tellion herself was feeling. It was both a sensation of longing, and a discovery of kindred that she had never known of.

As she became immersed in that feeling, Mark came back with Linda and Arthur. It caused Ellaine to let go of her hands and back away slightly.

"Mark, you should have told us." Linda said to him before looking sadly at Tellion. "She doesn't remember anything?"

"No." Mark replied, letting a slow breath escape from his mouth. His tone came off as sad. "She doesn't have any memory of me, or any of you."

Arthur made a low grunt from behind his clenched lips. "Damn those stupid kids!"

He faced Mark, completely unaware that Tellion was watching him, even though she didn't understand his words. "Did they ever find any of them?"

Mark made a face and shook his head. "No dad, no one ever figured out who they were. And the police say that they haven't found any leads, I think it's going to go cold pretty soon."

Arther glanced once over his shoulder at Tellion before looking back to Mark.

"Well they shouldn't just stop looking! Not with what they caused." Arthur clenched his hands into fists in a clear display of anger. "Kids setting of a bunch of fireworks in construction zone is bad enough. But what it caused…"

"Believe me Art, I wish more than anyone that Susan hadn't been driving past that construction zone that night. But she was, and we just have to accept that's what caused her to lose control and smash into that light pole."

"Mark! Arthur!" Linda said in a loud voice to the both of them. "Stop talking like she's gone! She's right here in front of us, even if…"

Linda walked right in front of Tellion, staring straight into her eyes. She wasn't sure what Linda was looking for, but it strangely reminded Tellion of when she had looked into Susan's face the other night in that mirror. She was searching for something, some trace of recognition in her. After several long moments, Linda weakly placed her hand on the side of Tellion's face.

"Oh Susan," she blinked several times as small trickles of tears rolled down the sides of her face. "My baby…"

She pulled Tellion close to her, tightly wrapping her arms around Tellion. Her grip wasn't as strong as Mark's, but Tellion felt no less passion in her actions than his.

 _So,_ Tellion thought, _is this the bond of a mother and child?_

It must be.

She hadn't ever experienced anything else like this in her life. It was comforting. Not the way she felt with Mark, but it was very powerful. But it also made Tellion feel something else. A sense of longing, a yearning for the kind of affection that Susan had clearly experienced her whole life, since before whatever it was that had happened that made her this way. Family bonds, the bonds that Mark and Susan had. Also the kind that Susan must have had with her younger sister Ellaine. There must have been some understanding, some phrase, or even a word to explain all of this cataclysmic sensations that were exploding all through Susan's body, and even in Tellion herself, from her interactions with Mark and Susan's family.

And yet, there wasn't one in any of Yeerk history or culture that Tellion knew of. None of her kind knew of these things. It was just all so alien to her people, and even her. And again, it made Tellion incredibly sad for herself, and all of her kind. To think that all of these wondrous emotions and sensations existed in the cosmos, and they had never truly been aware of them. If…if just desiring to experience these sensations were reasons why Yeerks had sought out various hosts, Tellion could have almost found herself sympathizing with her people's desire to become more than they had always been. But not how they were doing it. Not through forceful conquest, enslavement, and utter destruction of entire planets of innocent beings. If only they had tried to seek out hosts that would have let them exist inside of them, and had never tried to forcefully control them, or sought some other kind of path to lead to that higher state of being.

They could have become so much more than what made themselves into.

But Tellion had no more time to dwell on that as Susan's female parent Linda looked at her face and began speaking to her.

"I don't care if you don't remember me sweetie." Linda said through her tears, breaking Tellion's concentration. "I'm still your mother. Nothing in all this world will ever change that."

"Mo…mootthhh…eerrrrr." Tellion mimicked the word, finding it somehow fitting her speech pattern. Her response only seemed to make Linda's eyes shine brighter. Tellion instantly recognized the look of hope from her prior interactions with Mark.

Before Tellion could say anything or object, Susan's male parent Arthur approached and placed his powerful arms around her too.

"It's going to be alright honey." he said to her. "No matter how long it takes, we'll always be here for you until you're well again."

Then Ellaine came and joined them. So did Mark. Tellion could do nothing except remain motionless as all four of them surrounded her and showered her with the most affection that Tellion had ever known in her entire life. And it was affection that Tellion truly believed that she didn't deserve.

Which only made her desire to find Susan so much greater than it had ever been.


	7. A Life Saved

She was drifting again. In that vast empty space that no Yeerk before her had managed to enter, at least alive, according to that dastardly voice of which she so desperately wanted to forget. There was nothing in that seemingly endless expanse of blackness. Nothing visible for her anyway. Yet, there was something. A noise, or collection of noises, echoed out. They rippled across the distance, if there truly was such a thing in this place. Tellion, once again in Susan's body, strained her ears as the noises washed over her. Then she understood. They were not random noises, they were voices. Voices that she had never heard before, but could understand the strain, the desperation in their words.

… _don't stop fighting it, if this doesn't work, I don't know how I'll be able to_ ….

… _he's part of my own flesh and blood, but I'll still kill him if that's the only way to free him_ …

… _I've already lost enough in this life, I'm not going to lose you to that thing, no mater what_ …

… _he's always been there for me in the worst parts of my life, and now I'm going to be there for him, no matter how much he's suffering now_ …

… _my prince, I can only hope that one day you can grant me forgiveness, it's my fault that this horrific fate has befallen you_ …

"What…what is this?" Tellion asked, not knowing who would answer her. And no one did. Not in the way she expected.

Instead of a direct answer, she heard two more voice swell up among the others, one faint, and the other…

… _you see, nothing you've said or do will get you out of this, sooner or later you're going to die, and I'll be free again_ …

… _you think you have all figured out then? That your friends are going to somehow save you and stop me from revealing you to the Visser? I can't wait to prove you wrong, and I'm especially going to enjoy hearing your cries when we both watch the infestation of them all. I've seen into every little corner of your mind, I know your deepest feelings, and desires. Oh yes, it will be especially enjoyable for me to have you watch a Yeerk crawl into the ear of the one that you_ …

Tellion's eyes widened at the familiarity of that sinister tone.

"I know that voice." she whispered with true fear.

And just like that, the voices were gone, and she awoke to strange noises.

It was the sounds of small flying mammals chirping their high pitched that unltimately convinced Tellion that she was indeed still alive and not in that other place.

Nervously sitting up, she whipped her forehead and winced at how saturated her hand was from the body's internal perspiration. She then felt that the rest of the body was equally soaked, as well as the area of the bed she had been sleeping on. Weakly climbing from the bed, Tellion nervously rubbed her arms as she stared at the large wet area she had just been resting on.

Another dream. She thought. But was it really just a dream? How could she really know? She had never dreamed until these last two nights.

Either way, Tellion knew better than to just dismiss this one either.

Tellion moved slightly, and felt her wet clothing cling tightly to her. Not enjoying the feeling, Tellion quickly removed all of the saturated garments. Once free of the last items of clothing, Tellion took a moment to let the cool air of the room dry out her skin. She thought about going to window to observe the small flying mammals, they made her feel a sense of joy for reasons that she had yet to be able to understand. But Tellion decided against it. She was still learning so much about natives, but a part of her felt that if she were to stand in front of the glass panel without any garments, it might cause a disturbance for any natives passing by.

So Tellion waited quietly in the corner of the room, letting her mind drift as she tried to make sense of everything that she had just gone through.

Those voices…they didn't sound like any she had heard before, they vaguely reminded her of Visser Three's thought speech. It was not like any voices she was used to, except that last one. Its tone was so sinister, so sadistic, and so familiar. Tellion was sure that she had heard that voice before, it's mocking tone that seemed to reveal in any form of torture of its victim. It was very much like…

Tellion's eyes widened and her lips parted slightly as the realization struck her.

"Temrash…" she whispered with a shudder.

No doubt about it, the last voice before she had awoken had been Temrash. Then…he had survived too. But how? The voice had told her that the Andalites had attacked the Yeerk pool immediately after she had been taken out of it. Then how could he have survived where none of the others had.

Unless…Tellion thought with a shocking revelation. He somehow infested one of the Andalites in the battle.

How that was possible? Tellion just couldn't begin to understand such a thing. But if the tone of the other voices she had heard were any indication, then the rest of them had discovered Temrash infestation of their commrade. No doubt they…

The door swung open, breaking Tellion's concentration and causing her to bring her arms up to cover her body's personal areas. For a second, Tellion was terrified that it would be Mark, for reasons that she couldn't explain. That was probably the reason why she released a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Linda.

Her eyes widened and she instantly shut the door behind her. "Susan!" she exclaimed. "Sweetie, you can't just walk around without any clothes on!"

"Ss…oo...rrryyy?" she said, hoping that was the right answer to give in the current situation.

Linda blinked, looking just as confused about Tellion's answer. She shook her head and smiled at her. "It's alright, sweetie. I can't expect you to know everything right away."

She went over to the wooden box that held personal garments and pulled out several garments that she had explained to Tellion yesterday were 'shirts' and 'pants' and 'underwear'. Tellion let her pick out an outfit that Linda felt would be acceptable to fit on her body. Pretending to need her guidance, Tellion let Linda guide her on how to properly dress herself, even though she already knew how to do such a thing. Still, it seemed to make Linda happy, and that was something that made Tellion happy herself.

Once she was acceptably dressed, Linda led Tellion out of the bedroom and down into the kitchen. Everyone was there, including Mark. And they all had full plates of steaming food in front of them. Except there was a single space that was empty. Mark motioned for her to take the empty space beside him. Not needing any further encouragement, Tellion took a seat beside him and took the fork in her hand.

She looked down at the food before her. Some kind of circular food that Linda called 'pancakes'. Tellion tasted it with a bit of hesitancy. Its texture was a bit softer than she remembered the eggs being, but the sticky liquid substance called 'syrup' that covered them more than made her forget about the texture with the pleasurable explosion it created across her tongue. Everyone seemed to laugh at her as she tore into the pancakes with a ravenous fury. Tellion forced a smile back at them, not sure what they were finding so amusing.

They continued to speak to her, and Tellion was able to figure out the meaning to a few more words among their conversations with her. But she was still only able to give them single word responses at best. Yet it didn't seem to matter to them, they just appeared to be glad that she was interacting with them.

Once the breakfast was finished, they all took Tellion into the living room. Just like they had done most of the prior day, they made her sit down in front of the primitive viewing screen and watch programing that had many strange little creatures that didn't in anyway appear natural to her, yet they spoke of 'letters' and 'numbers'. It had taken Tellion several hours to understand that these type of scenarios had been designed for young natives to be educated. Although she was far from a youngling, Tellion still didn't know much about native culture, or even their language. So she reserved herself to pay close attention and understand native tongues and customs. And it helped her learn. She was already able to count one to ten on all of her body's fingers, and now knew the words and native symbols associated with those numbers. And she also had a very good understanding of the native language primer for the dialect known as 'English' that was called 'the alphabet' and the twenty-six letters that it encompassed, to the point where she was able to follow the rhyme that went through the whole alphabet.

After several hours of the educational programs, Mark and the rest turned the primitive screen off and took Tellion outside. She had to admit, despite her desire to learn as much as she could, Tellion was incredibly grateful to be outside of the dwelling and into the outside world. It was so refreshing and everything was so bright. It was an existence full of more life than she had ever known of throughout much of her pitiful comprehension of life.

She basked in the warmth of the light of the system's star, letting the rays touch every part of her exposed skin. The gust of air that caused her hair to waive about and sent tingles all across her skin. It was so comforting, and strange in so many good ways. And her appearing to be happy only seemed to make everyone else equally pleasant.

Linda brought out a large plate of square shaped food called 'sandwiches' along with other things called 'chips' and a big glass container of a liquid called 'lemonade'. Although the sandwiches weren't as tasty as the pancakes had been, Tellion did enjoy the explosion of sensations in her mouth from any type of native food. In fact, Tellion was finding that there was very little about this existance that she wasn't enjoying. As much as she hated to feel it, Tellion experienced a bit of jealousy at Susan and the peaceful life that she had enjoyed.

Again, Tellion did worry about Susan, and did indeed want so desperately to find her, but she just couldn't help but feel that resentment for how radically different both of their lives had been, because Tellion believed that the real Susan would have been very much like her. Kind, caring, and longing for the betterment of all she knew. At least that's what Tellion hoped Susan had been like. It felt like that was the case with her interactions with Mark and the rest, but Tellion couldn't truly tell since she had only just known them.

Her thoughts about Susan faded when she felt a familiar discomfort building up in her body's lower midsection. She was building up excess liquid waste, and needed to purge it from her body. But she wasn't familiar with the location of the dwelling's lower level waste facilities. And she didn't know the words to ask any of them where to find it. Not knowing what to do, Tellion began to nervously fidget in her seat. Thankfully, Linda seemed to be able to read Tellion's actions.

"Bathroom Susan?" she asked.

Thankfully, Tellion was able to understand what Linda was asking her. "Bathroom." she said with a bit of hesitation, and what she could only assume was, embarrassment.

Despite her reluctance to admit that 'her' body needed to relieve excess waste, Linda just smiled and took her hand. As everyone else watched on, Linda led Tellion back to the dwelling. Once inside, she took Tellion over to a small room with a waste relieving seat. She spoke to her, and it took Tellion several times of Linda speaking to her to understand that she was asking if she needed help in how to use the facilities. Tellion promptly shook her head. Even among Yeerks, one didn't make it a habit of letting others view them doing their personal relief. Much to Tellion's mental relief, Linda accepted her desire, and let her relieve her body in private.

Once done, Tellion exited the room and noticed that Linda was nowhere to be seen. Curious, since she had practically hovered over Tellion since she had first met her the other day. Tellion began to look around the interior. She had only searched through two separate rooms before the sound of running water caught her attention. Still not entirely used to the native range of hearing, it took Tellion a few moments to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. The 'kitchen'.

Driven on by her inquisitive nature, Tellion quietly approached the entrance to the room. Inside, she saw Linda standing over the sink with the 'faucet' pouring out a high powered stream of water. In Linda's hands she held some kind of glass container with a dark appearing liquid that was turned upside down and was being poured into the sink. And Tellion heard her make a strangled sound through short, quick breaths.

"Mark, you told me you had gotten rid of all this, how could you keep any of it around…" she spoke softly, clearly talking to herself.

Tellion didn't truly know why, but hearing the sadness in Linda's voice drew Tellion to her. She took a step inside the kitchen, and the floor made a sound from the weight of her footfall. It clearly alerted Linda. She spun around, making a clear attempt to hide the glass container behind her. Her eyes were glistening with tears. It made Tellion sad to see that, even if she didn't know why they were there.

"Susan!" Linda exclaimed. "I didn't know you were finished!"

Tellion tilted her head to the side, mimicking her memories of human gestures to imply unspoken curiosity. The action proved to be the appropriate response. Linda used a free hand to wipe away the wetness from her eyes.

"Sorry baby, I don't like you seeing me like this. I was just…" Linda didn't finish saying what she must have been thinking. Tellion may have been still very dim when it came to understanding native actions and customs, but even she could tell that Linda was trying to think of some kind of acceptable response to the actions that she clearly didn't want anyone seeing. And it made her sad to see Susan's mother in such a state, it caused her insides to feel strange, and not in a good way.

"No cry mother." Tellion spoke to her, formulating the few words she had learned into a statement that she hoped would help to ease Linda's sorrow.

It worked, because her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the three word statement. Whatever it was that she was holding behind her dropped into the sink with a loud clanking noise.

"Susan…" Linda said in a barely audible voice. "Did you just…"

Tellion pointed towards the window, and the bright world that lay just beyond the thin layer of glass.

"Sunny day." she said, repeating the words of the rhyme that she had learned earlier from the educational program on the flat viewing screen. "Happy day."

That didn't stop Linda's tears. All it did was make them flow freely down both of her cheeks and cause her to place her hand over her mouth. For a moment, Tellion thought that she had done or said something wrong. Until Linda quickly walked over and threw her arms around her.

"Oh Susan." she cried into her shoulder. "How…how are you learning so quickly?"

Tellion didn't really have an answer for Linda's question. She didn't understand almost any of the words, except being addressed as Susan. Knowing that only made Tellion herself sad, because Susan's mother was completely oblivious to the fact that she wasn't interacting with her daughter, but instead was speaking to an exterterrestrial parasitic slug that had enveloped her daughter's brain. Still, Tellion did feel a warmth from Linda's actions, and despite a faint warning in the back of her own thought process, she lifted her arms and encased them around Linda. That one single act only served to solidify Linda's emotional state, and though it should have been impossible, she managed to tighten her grip around Tellion.

Neither said anything for a time, and Tellion was perfectly fine with that state of being as she basked in the unfamiliar affection that natives experienced. After what felt like an entire day, but was probably only just the span of a few heartbeats, Linda pulled away from Tellion and looked at her with a bright face full of joy, and maybe even hope.

"Thank you sweetie. I feel much better. Do you?" she asked.

"Better." Tellion responded, not sure herself why she said that, or even really sure what she said.

Still, it seemed to satisfy Linda, and she didn't press anymore questions to Tellion. After they left the room, Linda told her something about going outside while she made 'desert'. Tellion didn't understand those words, but she was able to figure out that Linda wanted her to go back outside while she did something in the 'kitchen'. Not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to herself, Tellion exited the dwelling and walked back to the wooden structure that they had all eaten at. Ellaine wasn't sitting anymore, she was off in the far corner of the wooden perimeter that encompassed the dwelling, near a small structure that looked vaguely familiar to the dwelling that Susan and Mark lived in. Only this one seemed to be a dwelling for the small flying mammals that existed in the surrounding terrain around the 'home'.

Tellion didn't think that it would be wise to interrupt Ellaine in her seemingly happy state, so she opted instead to walk over to Mark and Arthur. As she approached, Tellion noticed that neither of them seemed to notice that she was drawing closer, because they were speaking as if she wasn't there. Tellion didn't know why, but she didn't make a sound to draw attention to herself as she drew closer.

"I just don't know how to explain any of this Art." Mark said to Susan's father.

Clearly neither of them heard her footsteps on the vegetation that layered the soil. And even though she couldn't understand their words, Tellion didn't want to interrupt their conversation. It seemed important to them.

"What do you mean Mark? We have Susan back, and we should be grateful for that."

"I am Art." Mark said. "I really am. But there is just something…I don't really know how to explain it really."

"Well, talk to me son, what's on your mind?"

"It's just that…" Mark said, shaking his head. "I don't know how to really understand all of it Art. Susan, she's just…"

"Yes?"

"I mean." The look on his face worried Tellion. There was a sort of concern that she hadn't seen in Mark before. "It's only been two days Art."

Mark lifted two fingers on his dominant hand, as if to emphasize the point he was trying to make. "Two days. When I saw Susan in the hospital, she could barely speak even one word. And now…"

Mark leaned a little closer to express his next words to Arthur.

"She's clearly able to understand some of the things that we're saying, and she's even starting to form sentences in response to the things we're saying to her. I mean, I haven't dealt with any kind of situations like this since medical school…but I've never encountered a case where someone is able to recover from head trama at THIS kind of pace. When I talk to her, it's not like I'm dealing with someone who's suffered total memory loss. It's more like…dealing with someone who just speaks another language."

Arthur, despite a clear example of concern on his own face, rubbed his chin and spoke to Mark.

"Look, son. I know that you are probably worried about Susan. And so am I."

Arthur reached across the wooden table and placed a hand on Mark's shoulder, Tellion could only guess that was a sign of affection between males of the native species, but she couldn't know for sure.

"I know how you're feeling right now. Like none of this is real, and you're going to wake up suddenly and realize that she isn't really back with us."

Mark didn't say anything. Arthur clearly took that as a sign that his words were speaking a sort of truth to him.

"But she is really here. And we shouldn't be questioning that stroke of fortune. Sometimes, it's better to not question a miracle when it happens to you."

"I guess you're right dad." Mark said to him with a slight nod of his head. "I suppose it's just me worrying about nothing."

It was at that moment that the two of them seemed to realize that Tellion was standing at the end of the wooden structure they were sitting at. Both of their faces appeared to brighten at the sight of her.

"Susan!" Mark said with a slightly higher pitch in his voice. "I didn't hear you coming."

He rose from where he was sitting and came to her. "Are you feeling better?"

Tellion doubted that Mark would ever truly understand the relief that she was feeling in that moment when she realized that she had come to understand almost all the words he had spoken to her.

"Better Mark." Tellion answered in that tone of voice she had come to understand was joyful. She pointed back at the dwelling. "Mother in home. Make dessert. Said is yummy."

Arthur laughed softly from behind Mark. "Yes sweetie, you're mom does love making dessert. You used to too."

Tellion patted her chest as she looked at Arthur. "Me make dessert?"

He just nodded his head with a very wide smile. But Tellion didn't pay any more attention to him as Mark stepped closer to her. Tellion felt her whole body tighten as Mark gently placed a hand on her cheek. She wasn't aware that she was smiling at him until he rubbed his thumb across the smooth skin of her cheek, dragging it across the corner of her mouth. Tellion was both thrilled and concerned by that. She was estatic at Mark's touch, but when was it that she started smiling? She didn't remember consciously doing that.

Before Tellion had any more time to dwell on that thought, Linda apparently had finished whatever it was she needed to make the 'dessert. Mark reluctantly pulled himself away from her and took a seat. That didn't stop Tellion from sitting next to him. But she wasn't able to enjoy anymore personal time with him, because Elliane had chosen to sit right next to her as well.

"Still haven't had enough?" she asked to Tellion, pointing at her stomach. "You're going to blow up like a balloon you keep stuffing your face like that."

"Stuff face? Balloon?" Tellion asked, totally clueless on what those words were or what they meant.

Clearly, Linda and the others didn't approve of Ellaine's words.

"Ellaine! Don't talk like that to your sister!" she said in a harsh voice.

Ellaine just smiled at Linda and put her arm around Tellion. "Oh come on mom! I'm just messing around. Suzie knows I didn't mean any of it."

When they all looked at her, Tellion just smiled at all of them. "It ok. Sisters."

To put them all at ease by her words, Tellion mimicked Ellaine's actions and put her own arm around Susan's sibling. That made everyone, especially Ellaine, laugh very loudly. With that said and done, Linda placed a bowl of the dessert in front of all of them. It looked strange to her, but all native food still seemed strange to her. Linda explained that it was something that was a combination of things called 'strawberries' and 'ice cream'. Tellion was a little hesitant to consume it because, just like the ginger maple oatmeal she had been warned about the prior day, this substance needed a spoon to consume it as well.

Tellion did her best to not show her hesitancy, but she couldn't help to look all around her at the sky, waiting for that voice to speak out either a warning or an assurance to her. But there was nothing but silence. And she just had to accept the words that it had spoken about not being able to speak to her again until after something else had happened. What that would be, she just couldn't begin to guess.

With nothing left to guide her except her own instincts, Tellion took a spoonful of the dessert and placed it into her mouth. The very first thing that she was aware of was the cold that slightly stung the inside of her mouth. But that faded within moments, replaced by that same senation that she had enjoyed earlier in the day, only this was much stronger. A faint, joyful rumble came from the back of Tellion's throat as she enjoyed the contents of the substance known as ice cream.

"Delicious, huh?" Ellaine said, lightly jamming the middle joint of her arm into Tellion's side.

Tellion looked at Susan's little sister and smile genuinely. "Delicious." she answered, licking up a little bit that had seeped out past her lips.

That seemed the right answer, because everyone also smiled. With nothing left to hold her back, Tellion sat there with Mark and the rest of Susan's family and enjoyed the ice cream. The only sad part for Tellion about the whole experience was when she finally scooped up the very last bits of the delicious liquid treat and swallowed it.

Tellion must have made some kind of face that showed her displeasure of finishing off the ice cream, because Linda reached across the table and placed her hand over hers.

"It's ok baby, there'll be more for you later."

"More? Later?" Tellion asked, looking at her, not entirely sure of the words.

Linda just smiled at her and held up her bowl and the one that Arthur had eaten from. "Yes, sweetie. More. But later."

 _Oh,_ Tellion thought. _There'll be more of this 'ice cream' in the future. I hope it's the near future._

Tellion smiled back at her. "I like ice cream. Want more later."

"And you will honey. Just not right now." Linda said. "Now let's all go back inside."

And so they did. Arthur and Ellaine remained outside to clean up the dirty bowls and other things they had eaten with. Mark and Linda brought her back inside.

And together, they spent the next several hours showing Tellion small paper bound texts and photos that again appeared to have been made for younger natives. Still Tellion paid close attention without complaint. There was still so very much to learn about being both a native, and being Susan.

She learned about creatures called 'caterpillars' that vaguely reminded Tellion of her natural state, but yet had the ability to self-morph into an entirely different creature called a 'butterfly', and the many silly adventures that they could go on after being able to take flightg. She also learned about the lives of creatures that were called 'bears' that dressed like natives and lived in a tree like dwelling, very reminiscent to Hork-Bajir in the true state. Despite how captivating it was, Tellion had to keep reminding herself that it was very unlikely that the things that Mark and Linda were showing her were how these planet based creatures actually lived. If they had, Tellion was sure that there would have been some briefing in the empire's records about them for this planet.

Although Tellion really didn't like telling lies, she could see some form of merit in the way that natives lied to themselves about certain things that were not true to reality. It was vaguely how she felt about pretending to be Susan. Although she knew that she wasn't the person that Mark and the others thought she was, Tellion still felt a great warmth within her at the joy that they were all revaling at Susan's apparent return.

As the light from the star that the planet orbited began to fade slightly, Mark and Linda finally decided to stop with Tellion's teachings. They began talking to Arthur and Ellaine, apparently trying to decide among themselves what they would make for food next. Tellion hadn't paid much attention to it, but apparently natives needed to consume resources on a basis of about three times a day. As they continued to talk, Tellion felt proud for herself when she recognized several of the words that were being spoken among them. Although she couldn't quite understand why Arthur and Mark appeared excited at the prospect of 'grilling burgers'.

With that decision apparently made, Linda and Ellaine took Tellion by her arms and lifted her from the seat she had been resting in.

"Come on Suzie." Ellaine said, pulling her towards the front door to the dwelling. "Let's get out of here."

Linda wrapped her arm under Tellion's and smiled at her. "Yes honey, let's let the boys have their fun and go for a walk. I thinking getting out of the house will do you some good."

"Walk?" Tellion asked, completely clueless on what that word meant.

Ellaine and Linda both laughed to themselves at the idea that Tellion didn't know that that simple word was supposed to mean. Ellaine began to pace around the room in front of Tellion.

"Walk." she said, pointing at her legs as she moved them about.

"Walk." Tellion said, moving her own legs forward. She had been doing it without a problem for the last two days, she just hadn't known the word that was associated with moving one's legs in the native's tounge. Well, that was one more word that she had learned.

"Come on baby," Linda said, also pulling her towards the door. "Let's go."

"Ok." Tellion answered her. "Go."

Together, the three of them left the dwelling and headed out for the 'walk'. It was a very strange experience for Tellion. But then again, so was everything about native life. To think that one could just simply walk around an area for no other reason than to just enjoy their surroundings and revel in the joy of the very life essence of the planet itself. Ellaine and Linda truly couldn't understand, nor appreciate, Tellion's jealousy of their relatively peaceful lives. Everything that they seemed to do had such ease, such happiness, with no real or true threat to their very existence. It was not something that a low class Yeerk like herself, who had known almost every moment of her short life as one of living in fear or failure and execution, could truly understand. But she was trying to, because she found this kind of life so very enjoyable.

As they walked down an artificial path that ran parallel to the native made pathways for their primitive vehicles, both Ellaine and Linda would point out the small mammals that they encountered. The smaller ones running up and through the surrounding trees they called squirrels, but Tellion paid more attention to the ones with wings. They were mostly small creatures generally referred to as 'birds', but Linda did point out several sub-species of these creatures. Almost completely black colored ones known as crows, bright blue ones called swallows, dull grey birds referred to as pigeons. And so on and so on. Tellion found this abundance of life to be totally captivating. To think, there were so many creatures living in just the areas that the natives had developed to live in, far more than she suspected existed on the entire Yeerk homeworld.

When she had been younger, a part of Tellion had always yearned to one day see the ancestral birth place of her people with her own eyes (or rather the eyes of the host she would have been inhabiting at the time). But now, for reasons that she doubted that she would ever truly understand, Tellion didn't feel that longing anymore. The place where her people had come from had had been so barren, so lacking in life, that she was almost certain that was one of the reasons Yeerks had evolved to be so harsh and cruel. It had been their only true survival mechanism that had enabled them to become the dominate species on the planet. That and the point in ancient time when they had somehow discovered that they could enter the bodies of the Gedd and control them like they were their own.

Although she had only been exposed to their world for two very short days, Tellion felt a greater connection between her and this planet than she had ever felt for the home world of the Yeerks. Maybe that should have scared her, but it didn't. It only brought to Tellion a sense of joy that she hadn't truly been aware of until coming into this life.

Tellion didn't say much other than to occasionally repeat words that both Ellaine and Linda said to her, trying her very best to make sure that she fully understood what they all meant. After some distance traveled, though Tellion couldn't truly be sure how far it was that they traveled, the three of them arrived in a native recreational place known as a 'park'.

Linda had the three of them sit down on a long wooden seat, for which Tellion was grateful. Her legs hurt so much from just the short distance they had traveled, and she was having trouble keeping herself up. With both Susan's mother and little sister sitting on either side of her, Tellion just sat there and listened to the two of them talk to her. Most of the things they spoke of were about the things that Susan used to enjoy doing. Coming to the park seemed to be one of them. Tellion felt a sort of connection between herself and Susan when she was told by Linda that Susan had always had an enjoyment for the abundance of life that encompassed this world. In some ways, it almost made Tellion wonder if their meeting was fated, besides being orchestrated by some seemingly cosmic voice that had enabled the events of their coming together to happen.

As they spoke to her, and Tellion began to wonder about her own fate, a small furry mammal came running past them and grabbed the small satchel that Linda had brought with her called a 'purse'. Tellion was caught off guard by this action, but she didn't really know how to react. Clearly, the purse was very important to Linda. Both she and Ellaine leapt to their feet and raced after the small mammal, shouting at the creature as if it would understand their words. Tellion didn't do anything except remain where she was as she watched the two of them chase after the creature. Then, like the explosion of a light coming on, Tellion remembered the native programing on the viewing screen that explained what the creature was.

"D is for dog." Tellion said to herself as she continued to watch them chase down the small mammal known as a dog. "The dog says, 'woof woof'."

She didn't know why, but seeing them run after the creature made Tellion laugh slightly to herself. She was just beginning to wonder if she should go after Linda and Ellaine when she spotted another dog, slightly larger and different colored than the first one. This one was chasing a small, greenish sphere shaped object as it rushed across the grass and into a paved pathway for native vehicles. As Tellion watched, a feeling of dread rushed through her when she spotted a native vehicle rolling down the pathway, heading directly for the dog. The creature finally captured the sphere, and stopped directly in the path of the moving vehicle. It was completely oblivious to the impending injury, or even death, that was about to befall it.

 **You can save him**. A voice whispered in the back of Tellion's mind. One that wasn't her own, and its call grew fainter the more she heard it.

 **You can save him.**

 **You can save him.**

 **You can save him.**

Tellion would never understand why, but those words spurred her to action. Without even thinking of her own safety, she leapt to her feet and rushed as fast as her legs would carry her towards the dog. The small creature seemed to notice her running towards it, but did nothing except sit down on its back legs and wage its tail in a sign of happiness, completely oblivious to the danger it had placed itself in.

 _Please_ , Tellion thought to herself. _Don't let me fail…_

She reached the dog just a few moments before the rolling vehicle would have impacted the creature, as if the creature anticipated her approach he rose on his back legs, allowing her to have greater ease to catch him. Tellion didn't even think of what she was doing, she just scooped the dog up in her arms at the fastest pace her legs would carry her and leapt with all her might. She cleared the entire length of the paved pathway and landed in the grass with the native vehicle stopped an instant later with a horrendous sound of grinding metal and other unpleasant noises. A male's head poked out from the open view port on the vehicle's side and looked at her.

"Holy crap lady, are you ok?!" he asked.

Tellion took several deep breaths as she looked at the native male. As if the dog was able to read her feelings of relief, the furry creature began to furiously lick Tellion's face. She didn't know why, but that sole act brought so much happiness to Tellion in that moment that she nearly forgot the physical pearl that she had just placed herself in. Not really knowing the correct response to the native's question, she just nodded at him.

"Yes. I ok." she said as the dog continued to lick her face.

"Alright." he said, looking around with a strange face before leaning back into his vehicle and driving away at a quick speed.

Tellion took no real notice of his hasty departure as the dog continued to rapidly lick her face. "Dog says woof woof." Tellion told the creature in a silly voice as it continued to lick her.

Almost immediately after he had left, a pair of younger native females came running up.

"Homer, you bad dog, you can't run away like that!" one of them shouted.

Tellion examined the two of them as they quickly approached. They were both of the same height and physical body shape as Susan's little sister Ellaine. That must have meant that they were roughly the same age range as she was. But that's where their similarities ended.

One appeared to have a skin tone similar to Susan's. But her hair was much longer, and it was a bright and shiny color as opposed to the host body that Tellion was inhabiting. The other…

She was almost the same height as the other, but slightly shorter. Her skin tone was much darker than the other, with hair that was strangely almost identical to her skin tone. Tellion didn't know why, but she seemed so familiar to her. Almost as if she had seen this native female before. But, for the life of her, Tellion just couldn't remember where that had been.

"Homer!" the darker colored native female shouted, running across the paved pathway and grasping a small tether that was around the dog's neck that Tellion had failed to notice. "You bad dog! You're not supposed to run away like that!"

She pulled the dog called Homer off of Tellion and knelt beside the animal. The way she looked at the creature, there seemed to be more in her eyes than Tellion could truly understand. Almost as if recapturing Homer meant more to her than just getting the mammal. She looked at Tellion and gave a genuine smile of satisfaction.

"Thank you Ms., he may not be the brightest dog, but he really means a lot to me."

The dark skinned female turned to the other one. "Rachael, you were supposed to help me keep an eye on him!"

"It's not my fault Cassie!" the one known as Rachel exclaimed. "You were the one that was holding his leash!"

The dog called Homer appeared oblivious to their minor argument as he leapt on the darker skinned native female called Cassie and began licking her face. As he did, the one called Rachel turned to Tellion.

"Thank you Ms. for catching him for us. I don't know what would have happened to him if he had kept on running away."

"All ok." Tellion said, trying her best to formulate an answer with the limited vocabulary she had gained in the last two days. "I happy to help Homer."

Cassie turned from the ravenously joyful licks of Homer to face Tellion. "I can't thank you enough for this Ms…"

It only took Tellion a moment to realize that the young native was addressing her directly. "S…Susan." Tellion answered, feeling a bit of discomfort at calling herself a name that wasn't truly hers.

Cassie smiled warmly at her. "Well, thank you again Ms. Susan."

She patted the top of Homer's head.

"He's goofy, but he belongs to my…friend Jake."

Tellion detected a wavering in her voice at the mention of this 'Jake'. Before she could try to formulate an opinion on what Cassie's words meant, she covered face and turned away, dragging Homer along with her. Rachel watched Cassie go for a moment before turning back to Tellion. "Sorry again about this. Homer belongs to my cousin Jake, and he's doing some stuff after school and we were looking after him for a while."

"No sorry." Tellion told her. "I happy Homer ok."

Rachel gave Tellion a strange look before running after Cassie and Homer. She caught up with them after only a few quick strides of her long legs. Once they were together again, the two began conversing between themselves. Even at the distance they were from her, Tellion noticed that Cassie was clearly upset about something. Tellion knew that she really should have gone back to Linda and Ellaine, but something within her made Tellion move closer to them. She hated to see a being in such a sad state, even if it was a native that she didn't know. Not wanting to be seen by them, she got as close as she could and took cover behind a tree.

From there, Tellion watched and listened.

"Cassie, you've got to pull yourself together, you almost lost it in front of that lady." Rachel said.

"I can't help it!" Cassie cried back, a clear trickle of tears flowing from each of her eyes. "Homer almost got…if it hadn't been for that lady, he could have been really hurt, or…"

Cassie's free hand began frantically whipping her eyes.

"He's one of the only things in Jake's life that still brings him joy right now. If we, if I, lost Homer then what would he think of me?"

"But he's fine." Rachel said, cautiously placing a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "And Jake will be too."

"But what if he won't!" Cassie said in a loud voice that sounded on the verge of breaking. "That…thing keeps talking to me every time I'm watching him, and it sounds just like him. It keeps trying to convince me that it's really Jake and he has control over it. But I can't even tell the difference Rachel! How can I tell myself that I really know Jake when I can't tell the difference between them?"

"That's why they're so dangerous." Rachel said, placing her arm around Cassie. "They talk and act just like the people they control. But you know Jake, and so do I. And I promise you Cassie, he's fighting it, every second that he's in there. And he'll make it through this."

"It's so easy for you to say that, Rachel. You don't know…what I had to do last night to keep him from getting away."

Rachel grasped both of Cassie's shoulders and shook her slightly. "Cassie, don't think for even one second that this is easy for me. I know how you feel about Jake. But he's my cousin, he's my family. My blood. And there's nothing that you did that I wouldn't have done too, if it meant saving Jake. He's going to be fine Cassie. We're already almost two days into this, we're more than halfway there. Just one more day, then we get Jake back. And then you can tell him how sorry you are all you want, but I'll bet you anything that he'll be glad that you had the strength to see this through."

Cassie didn't say anything in response to Rachel's words, she just nodded her head slightly and looked down at Homer and rubbed his head. Rachel seemed to accept that as an answer. She pulled her arm around Cassie.

"Now come on, Ax should have morphed back by now, and we need to get him and Homer home before Tom becomes suspicious. And keep your voice down about this stuff. We have no idea who could be listening."

As they walked away, Tellion felt strange in watching their departure. She didn't really know why she had followed the two and listened in on their conversation. She had only been able to form together some of the words that were spoken, not enough for her to truly understand what they were talking about. But some part of Tellion really wished that she had been able to know those words, because they seemed like they would have been really important to her current state. Still, she also felt sadness from seeing the young native known as Cassie spilling tears due to something that had happened to someone known as 'Jake'. She wondered if Jake meant to Cassie the same way Susan meant to Mark, but she couldn't know for sure. Tellion hoped that he would be alright, whatever it was that had ailed him.

"Susan!"

Tellion turned her attention away from the two, and saw both Linda and Ellaine running up to her. Both appeared to be breathing heavy, and Linda had managed to retrieve her 'purse'. Tellion didn't say anything as they both came over to her and hugged her.

"Susan," Linda said in a shakey voice. "What were you doing running off like that? You had me worried to death."

"Yeah, dummy." Ellaine said in a voice that tried to sound happy, but had a hint of concern in it. "I thought you had left us again."

"No leave." Tellion stated calmly, pointing after the two younger natives and the dog heading away. "Dog, woof woof, try to leave. I bring back."

Linda followed her finger, and spotted the two younger native females. "Oh, you helped them get their dog back?"

Tellion nodded. "Yes. I helped dog. Dog named Homer."

Linda grasped both of Tellion's hands and held them tightly. "Oh Susan…"

Her smile made Tellion's insides fell very warm for reasons she still wasn't able to grasp.

"You're still the same as ever, always caring about others before yourself. I know that you're still in there somewhere, you aren't really gone."

Tellion forced a smile at Linda's words. She didn't know many of them, but Tellion just somehow understood that Linda thought she was talking to her daughter. Tellion wished that she could explain to Linda the truth of the situation, but she doubted Linda could ever really understand the truth in the moment. Instead, she opted to just continue to pretend that she was Susan.

For whatever guilt that Tellion felt, Linda and Ellaine seemed to be ok with the current state of her condition. With nothing left to keep them, Tellion let the two of them guide her back to the dwelling that was called the 'home'.

When they got back, both Mark and Arthur had almost finished making the third meal of the day. The dinner.

The meat placed in between compressed bits of substance called 'bread' was very enjoyable for Tellion. She and the rest remained outside as the planet's rotation began to pull their small patch of the world away from its light and night began to fall. At Linda's command, they all returned to the inside of the home.

When they had returned inside, they all sat on the various recreational structures they called 'sofas' and watched the primitive viewing screen called the television. Tellion didn't really understand anything that she was watching, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, so she sat beside Mark and quietly viewed what was on the screen.

As time passed, Tellion slowly felt a warmth grown on her side that was facing Mark. When she fully realized this, she turned her attention to him, and saw that she had almost subconsciously shifted herself over to him until she was leaning her body against his. Tellion could never understand what truly happened in the next moment, only that she looked at Mark, and he in turn looked at her in the same instant.

She had looked at him so many times before since he had taken her home with him, but this time was different. It was as if…she were truly looking at him for the first time. She was sure that her gaze must have mirrored the way Susan had looked upon Mark in that frozen image lying next to their bed. Tellion had no way to truly explain what it was that happened in that next instant, only that all concepts of time lost meaning to her as she felt herself becoming lost in Mark's captivating gaze. And if she dared to believe it, he gave her an equally compelling look. In that moment, she forgot about everything.

That she was not truly Susan. She wasn't Mark's long lost wife, or Arthur and Linda's child, or Ellaine's big sister. That she was, in fact, a parasitic slug that had made herself a fugitive from her people because she couldn't stand to live the life she had been born into. None of that mattered to Tellion anymore. All that mattered was how Mark was looking at her. And how she was looking at him.

A strange, inexplainable jolt surged throughout Tellion's entire host body, and it flowed up into her natural body itself. The closest experience that Tellion could compare this feeling to was when she had first met him, and he had pressed his lips against hers. But this was not that feeling, this was…something else. Something warmer, and more pleasant that coursed through her. Tellion didn't know what it was, or how to truly explain to herself what it was that she was feeling. All she knew for certain was that she was uncontrollably being drawn to Mark, and she didn't want to fight it. She wanted to be closer to him, more than she ever had ever desired for any other being she had ever known in her entire life.

He appeared hesitant at first from her actions, then began to lean in towards her. Tellion didn't truly know what would happen next. She only knew that she would welcome it with every last molecule of her body, and her very soul, if she truly had one. As the distance between them closed to only a few bare millimeters, Tellion couldn't help but wonder if she was truly awake or dreaming. Yes, this had to be a living dream. What else could this moment be?

Something hit the side of Tellion's cheek, shattering the moment between them.

"Ellaine!" both Linda and Arthur shouted, thoroughly ending the experience that Tellion was about to enjoy with Mark.

Tellion heard a muffled sound coming from Ellaine as she held one of her hands over her mouth. She was clearly trying to suppress a laugh. Tellion didn't understand the meaning for it. Disrupting her moment with Mark didn't seem to be something humorous. In fact, it caused a simmering heat to form in Tellion's gut.

It took every bit of self-control that Tellion had to keep from yelling at Ellaine in Gedd/Yeerk in her moment of frustration. When Elliane tossed another one of the small particles of food resting in the bowl that she had in her lap, Tellion pinched the side of her leg to keep her anger under control.

The moment passed, and her anger faded when she saw the way that Elliane looked at her, and realized that it was just a thing that native siblings must do to each other. Mimicking her actions, Tellion collected up the two bits of the food that had been tossed at her and hurled them back at Ellaine.

Susan's younger sister shielded herself from the hurtling bits and quickly the two of them began throwing the small morsels back and forth at each other.

"Girls!" Linda exclaimed. "Stop throwing popcorn at each other!"

"Oh mom!" Ellaine said, tossing more of the 'popcorn' at Tellion. "We're just messing around."

"Just messing around!" Tellion repeated, unable to hide the joy in her voice while throwing another popcorn at Ellaine.

After that, Arthur, Linda, and Mark all seemed to accept the silly game that Ellaine had started with Tellion, and the two of them continued at each other for a time that Tellion lost track of. After a bit, Ellaine held up her hands and shouted 'I give up!'. Tellion was about to keep throwing more of the popcorn at her when Mark stopped her. She looked at him with confusion.

"She surrendered." he said.

The curious look that Tellion gave Mark clearly showed him that she didn't understand what 'give up' or 'surrendered' meant.

It took a few strange and silly moments before Tellion was able to understand what the meaning was to those words. Tellion lifted up her hands to imitate Ellaine and smiled. That caused all of them to laugh with her. Though she laughed with them, Tellion couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness from her moment of closeness with Mark. And as much as she hated to admit it, there was guilt too, because that moment should have been shared between Mark and Susan. Not her.

All of her thoughts were gone in the next moment when Mark pulled his arm around Tellion and pulled her close to him. She did her best to hide her face as the heat grew on her cheeks, but she was sure that her attempts were not enough. As it had been so many times before in the last two days, Tellion's actions only seemed to bring a sense of joy to everyone.

And they spent the rest of the early evening around the television. Tellion didn't say anything as she lay next to Mark, but she enjoyed every moment of feeling her body resting against his. So much that when Linda announced that they should all get to bed and Mark stood up, Tellion had to fight to not make a noise to announce her displeasure of their separation. Still, she hated to admit it, but there was a sense of weariness growing in her, the same as there had been the past two nights.

But there was also something else. A sort of mental itch that kept bothering Tellion. As if there was something that she really, really should have been aware of. But she just couldn't understand what it was. Nor did she really want to in the present state of sheer joy that she was immersed in. Pushing aside that small, yet constant feeling of worry, Tellion let Mark take her hand and said 'goodnight' to everyone. They all gave her hugs and kisses to her forehead before they allowed her and Mark to exit the room.

Mark took her up to the bedroom, and stopped at the door.

"I really shouldn't come in while you're changing." he said with an odd look on his face. "It…just doesn't feel right to do so. Not yet."

Tellion was able to understand enough words to know that Mark didn't want to be in the same room with her while she changed into the appropriate night garments. What Tellion didn't truly understand was why knowing that made her feel both relieved and upset at the same time. Being native was so damn confusing sometimes, but she wouldn't trade these experiences for anything else she had gone through in her entire life prior to this one.

Not wanting to upset Mark anymore, Tellion went into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. Clicking on the light, she went over to the 'dresser' and began changing into her night garments. As she slipped the long and comfy dress that she was supposed to wear to bed over her head, Tellion noticed the image of Susan and Mark propped up on small stand. She hadn't remembered putting it back up. Maybe Linda had done that, but Tellion couldn't be sure. Tellion hated to look at that image, it stirred up the unsettling feeling of her having done great wrong to Susan's family, and Mark.

Unable to take the emotions those smiling faces were causing her, Tellion quickly turned it over once more. The instant she had, the door opened a tiny bit.

"Are you done?" Mark's voice came from the other side.

"Done." Tellion responded, sitting down on the bed.

The door slowly opened and Mark cautiously stepped in with his back turned to her. Tellion didn't truly understand why he would do such a thing.

"I good." she said to him.

Mark turned to face her, and the relief expression that he made forced Tellion to suppress a small smile she felt forming on her face. Mark clicked the light off and slowly approached her. Tellion didn't need to be shown what to do this time. Like she had done the previous night, she lifted the thin layers of sheets and got under them. She then laid her head on the pillow. Mark sat on the edge of the bed and ran his hand over her face. Tellion shuddered for perhaps the millionth time from his touch, but she would gladly welcome that feeling a hundred million times more.

She looked at Mark's face, and soon realized that he was staring at her…the same way he had looked at Susan in that image.

"I know I said some things today about you. But it's only because I'm worried about you. I'm still trying to make sense of all this, and having you back here with me. It still doesn't feel like it's real."

He ran the tips of his fingers across the skin of her cheeks, tracing them over to her exposed ear and gently pushing back the hair that covered it.

"Ever since you came back to me, it's like you're a different person. And I should expect that, hell you don't really even remember me. And I guess it's silly to think that you would be exactly the same as before. But then…" he leaned closer to her so she could clearly make out the details of his eyes. "I see the way that you look at me, and how you want to be near me all the time. I…I just know that you're still here with me Susan."

 _But…_ Tellion thought with the deepest sadness she had ever felt in her short life as she looked into Mark's eyes. _I'm not Susan…_

Unable to keep looking at him, Tellion hid her face in the surface of the pillow, least she lose control of the emotions that were raging all through her. Whatever her intentions, Mark clearly mistook them for something else. Rejection of his affections.

"I…" he said that sad voice that made Tellion's insides hurt. "I'll go now. Get some sleep honey."

As he rose from the bed, Tellion's hand shot out and grasped his. That action alone made Mark freeze.

"No." she whispered, still keeping her face hidden under the pillow. "No leave."

"Susan."

"Stay…" Tellion spoke in the faintest voice she had ever given. "Stay…with…me."

He honored her plea, laying back down on the bed. As he did, Tellion rolled over and faced her back to him, still not able to bring herself to look at him for fear of how it would make her feel. For both the good, and bad, reasons. Mark lay beside her, his body pressing against hers, which sent so many confusing sensations running all through her. Not knowing what to do, Tellion just squeezed Mark's hand tightly as he placed his arm around her.

Here, with him, in this moment, it was complete joy. A moment that Tellion truly wished that she could remain frozen in forever. As if he were able to sense her feelings, Mark squeezed her hand back, which caused her heart to hammer inside her chest.

"I'll stay here with you." Mark whispered into her ear. "All night…if you want me to."

"All night." Tellion whispered, shutting her eyes as Mark pulled her even closer to him.

And she just laid there with him. Doing nothing but breathing as the wierieness overtook her, and she felt herself drifting away from reality for the third time.

Then Tellion's feet touched upon a solid surface, only her feet weren't really resting upon any visible surface. She looked all around her, turning around several times only to have her eyes peer into endless blackness. As the void began to weigh in all around her, Tellion turned around once more, and found a perfect image of herself staring back at her. Tellion forgot all about the voices she had heard, and focused entirely on the reflection. She instinctively backed away, and was further stunned when the image of herself, or rather 'Susan', didn't move in conjunction with her movements. It remained completely still as it stared at her. Tellion stared at it for several heart gripping moment before she dared to move.

Cautiously, she lifted her hand up and moved it back and forth in front of the image, only to have it not do any in response to her movement. She made several other movements, each met with equally no response from the image standing before her.

"Oh, Susan…" Tellion whispered. "What's happened to you? Where did you go?"

Again, the image was frozen, just like the one that she had seen the day before with Susan and Mark together. Slowly, she lifted her shaking hand and held it out to the motionless image that was quickly becoming as much herself as it was Susan.

"Your parents, Arthur and Linda, your sister Ellaine, and…Mark…they all missed you so much." Tellion said, the sadness of her words revealing just how much it was burdening her to continue on in her present state. "I'm trying Susan, I'm trying so hard to keep them happy, so that they don't worry about you, but I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this. I'm a Yeerk, and lying is supposed to be embedded in our nature, but it's not in mine. I…I'm not like the others of my kind, I never was, and I don't know why…I'm like this. I need you Susan. I need you to tell me where you are. I have to give you your life back. I can't keep being alone in this body, it's not right, it's not natural for a Yeerk. I don't know how to exist like this. I, don't know how to live on my own. And…these moment that I'm sharing with Mark, they belong to you, not me! Please Susan, just give me a sign. Tell me something. Tell me anything! Just give me a hint on where you are and how I can find you, and I will save you. And I'll bring you back to Mark. I promise to you upon everything good that I've ever done in my life."

The image continued to stare back at her without response, not even a microscopic twitch of the eye. Tellion's frustration and desperation only grew at the complete lack of any kind of acknowledgement of her desperate confession and plea to the one with whom she so very much wanted to respond.

"Damn you Susan! Speak to me!" Tellion screamed, lunging for her mirror counterpart.

The image shattered instantly upon her touch, sending Tellion tumbling head first into another free fall. She screamed involuntarily from the fear of the plunge. Her fear spiked a moment later as she saw something below her. For one fleeting moment, Tellion feared it was ground that she was plummeting to.

 _You can't die in a dream, she thought, right?_

As she fell closer to the image, Tellion realized it wasn't ground. It was something else. A bluish sphere with many different colors embedded into its surface. She had never truly seen it before with these eyes, and yet Tellion knew immediately what she was looking at. She also realized that her decent was slowing, until she was floating before it.

It's this world. She thought, her fears having all but vanished in the grand sight of this magnificent planet.

This…seeing the planet in its entirety, was one of her few wishes, and somehow it had been granted. Or maybe it was just her frail mind concocting wild fantasies that she so desperately desired. Either way, Tellion was grateful for the experience.

As she floated high about it all, images flashed through her mind. Mark, holding his arms out to her with that smile that always seemed to mesmerize Tellion. Arthur and Linda, standing side by side as they casted affectionate gazes that Tellion still knew so very little of yet had come to appreciate greatly. Then Ellaine, staring up at her with that gaze of innocence that Tellion felt a deep connection to despite having only just met her.

When the images faded, something else flashed through Tellion's mind. Another image. Distant, shadowy, almost indistinguishable. Yet she could make out something. Outlines of dark shapes, maybe five or six, one almost appeared to be…an Andalite. Then they were gone. And what she saw next made Tellion's spirit sink into a depth that she had previously never imagined was possible of being reached.

The planet…was changing. The skies darkened, the blue seas began to blacken, then receded and dry out. The lush green shriveled and browned until it was almost all gone. Tellion realized with the greatest horror in herself that she was watching this beautiful world dying.

No, not dying. Being terraformed.

Transformed into a replica of the barren and almost dead world of her ancestors. The ultimate end of any world that the Yeerk Empire claimed dominion over.

 _No!_ she screamed as she watched it all continue to unfold. _You can't do this! You can't destroy this…this precious thing!_

No one seemed to hear her plea, or much less care. But only for a moment.

 **There's still time to stop this future from becoming a reality.** A very faint voice whispered out to her from seemingly very far away.

Tellion instantly recognized it as the one that had spoken to her just before she had saved Homer.

Its call was similar to the first voice, in that it echoed all around and even through her in ways she couldn't comprehend. Yet it was also not like the first one Tellion had been speaking to, or the sadistic voice that she conversed with in her first dream. It was so subtle, almost to the point where Tellion felt that the softness was being forced.

Then Tellion was shown the image of the joyful dog known as Homer. His happy, elongated face making something that appeared to be a smile to Tellion as he brushed his tail back and forth.

 **You saved him.** The voice whispered to Tellion. **At the risk of your own life, and Susan's, for a lesser being. You are an interesting one, more than I first thought.**

 _Who are you?_ Tellion asked. You're not like the other voices.

Her question was ignored. Instead, the new voice continued to speak to her from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

 **You are right Tellion. You are different from other Yeerks, in ways than you cannot even begin to comprehend. And…you have the power to save Mark, to save them all from the future you just witnessed. And maybe, even save your own people from themselves. If…you only have the will to do what needs to be done.**

Before Tellion could even question who this new voice was or what their words meant, Tellion instantly plunged towards the now barren world. Faster than her mind could process. She only had time to throw her hand defensively over her face before she impacted into the dead planet.

Tellion's eyes shot open with and her body shuddered. She threw her hands over her mouth to muffle the scream the bubbled from the depths of her body. For the faintest of moments, Tellion was terrified that she had died.

It was the light of the planet's star that caused her to finally awake from her terrifying dream. As she sat up, Tellion realized that she was alone. At some point in her dreaming, Mark must have left her. She was sad to see that he wasn't there with her, but she was also glad that he wasn't there to witness her obvious terror from what had occurred in her dreams. Tellion sat up and held her arms as the tremors ran all through her.

She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself as the shakes slowly faded from her body. When they had finally stopped, Tellion cautiously rose from the bed and walked over to the window.

Looking out it brought a very, very warm smile to Tellion's face. This world, this life she had found herself in, it was like being in a living dream itself to her. It was almost impossible for Tellion to believe that it had only been a mere two days of this existance, now going on three.

Almost three days.

For some, unexplained reason, Visser Three's final words echoed through Tellion's head. _You'll only have three days to complete this mission._

Three…days…

Then the words of those two natives she encountered the other day also rang inside her mind.

 _It's been two days, just one more to go._

The smile instantly faded from Tellion's face at that realization. A sharp, terrifying spike of fear pierced right through Tellion's body. Three days. She could only live outside the nurturing light of the Kandrona rays soaked in the Yeerk pool for three of this planet's days. And she had squandered two of them in her immersion of this new life. Even more than two. That meant, she had less than twenty-four hours before…

…the Fugue.

One of the most painful, and longest lasting deaths for any Yeerk to experience. And she had no way to get back to the Yeerk pool, not without revealing her treasonous actions to the Empire. She…Tellion, was going to die in less than a day. And she was completely helpless to do anything about it.

As if some cosmic force was aware of her plight, the door to the bedroom opened. Tellion turned to see Mark walking into the bed room. In his hands he held one of the primitive native communication devices. He made a troubled face as he looked at her.

"That was the hospital." Mark said to her. "I tried to tell them that you were fine, but your Doctor, Dr. Samier, want's to personally inspect your condition. We…I have to take you back for some more tests. You should get dressed. We have to go now. I'm sorry honey."


	8. A Traitor's Gamble Part 1

Tellion couldn't keep herself still as she sat in the uncomfortable seat of the native vehicle. Mark was bringing her back to the healing center, or the 'hospital' as the natives called it. Linda and Arthur had insisted that they accompany them to this place, but Mark had objected to such an action. He had told them something about things called 'procedures' and 'protical' and how there was little they could do except wait to hear from him about her condition. Tellion didn't understand what exactly it was that Mark had told them, but she was grateful that his words had caused them to not want to come to the hospital with them. She didn't know how they, or Ellaine, would be able to handle what was about to happen, and didn't want to bring that pain upon them. Not after the hope and joy she had unexpectedly given them. Tellion didn't know how these good people would be able to handle losing Susan again.

Because Tellion had just discovered a horrible and harsh truth to the situation. It had been when Mark had been driving her back to the hospital along the main commerce lane for vehicles the natives called an 'interstate'. Tellion had formulated many different scenarios, all of them designed to allow herself to leave Susan's body and just die in the way that she was supposed to as a fugitive Yeerk. But there was something lurking in the depths of Tellion's mind, a concern that she hadn't contemplated since she had first entered Susan's body that only now had forced itself to the front of her thought process. Driven by this sudden concern, Tellion had a thought go through her cortext. While Mark had been completely focused on driving the primitive vehicle, Tellion had tried an experiment.

Like she had done with the removal of her control tendrils from the sensory parts of Susan's mind, Tellion severed the ones that she had connected to the respiratory portions of Susan's brain. Her experiment had only lasted for a very short time as the lungs of the body refused to work without Tellion's command. Despite being disconnected from the brain somewhat, Tellion felt the pressure in the rest of the body from the lack of oxygen that Susan so desperately needed.

Tellion had bared it for as long as she possibly could, but the pain coursing all through Susan's body, and into her, became too much for Tellion to endure and she instantly reconnected the control tendrils to relieve the horrendous pressure that had built upon her lungs.

Although Mark was thankfully completely oblivious to the situation, Tellion was truly terrified as the realization of the situation struck her. Because it was no longer just a matter of her own life that was at stake.

Susan was incapable of breathing without Tellion's assistance.

They were connected by more than just their mutual coming together that had been orchestrated by some higher power. Their very lives were now entwined and dependent upon each other. The situation was a basic understanding for Tellion, far simpler than any that she had ever come to understand in her short life. Without Susan, Tellion would not have a body or a life in which she could escape from her imprisonment of both the empire and her own twisted physiology. And without Tellion to aid her frail and injured body, Susan would die.

It was both a truly diabolical and ironic situation for Tellion to face.

Tellion was willing to accept her own death, however much she did fear an end to her existence. But she couldn't accept Susan dying because of her own selfish actions. She had to embrace the understanding that without her aid, Susan would surely perish. Knowing that placed Tellion into a situation of complete vulnerability. She searched every last portion of her mind and thought process to find a solution to her dilemma. But there were none that she could find. Even if she where to somehow leave Susan and perish without Mark or any other natives discovering the truth of the situation, or if she somehow got away from Mark and was able to return to the Yeerk pool to get her much needed Kandrona rays, Tellion didn't know how long a native could exist without the necessary intake of oxygen, but even by her best calculations Susan's life force would expire long before Mark or any anyone else could do anything to save Susan.

Now Tellion had no choice. She couldn't just quietly accept her supposed fate without at least trying to save Susan and herself.

But how? How could Tellion save both herself and Susan?

Tellion contemplated this dreaded situation, and what choices she had that could possibly offer a rescue for both of them. Saving herself, however selfish it made Tellion feel, was her first priority. But without the ability to return to the Yeerk pool, she had to find another way. So how could she do it?

 _Dammit Tellion! Think! There has to be a way out of this. Both of your lives depend on you!_ she thought to herself.

The minute feeling of the native vehicle coming to a stop brought Tellion out of her semi-trance like state. She looked up and saw the healing center looming ominously in her vision. Mark startled her when he placed a hand on her shoulder. Tellion weakly looked over at him, and felt her insides twist at the genuine smile that he gave her. His concern for 'her' always seemed to make her inside feel so strange in ways that Tellion couldn't understand.

"We're here."

"Here." Tellion whispered, nerviously looking back to the building.

Mark seemed to sense her hesitation, and he gently squeezed her shoulder. "I promise, it'll just be a few more tests honey. Then I'll take you away from this place forever. Trust me."

Tellion forced a weak smile to Mark, choosing to not say anything least he somehow detect the worry that was coursing all through her. Tellion thanked whatever good fortune that befell her that Mark didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong. He exited the vehicle and came around to her side, opening the door and helping her out. Tellion didn't do anything except let Mark lead her out of the vehicle and back into the healing center, the one place on this entire planet that she didn't want to return to.

And yet, here she was.

It felt to Tellion like a twisted form of a cruel fate, a reverberating reminder to her that she was not truly a part of this world. Yet she refused to accept that. This world…Mark…everything…these past few days had meant more to her than her entire life as part of the Empire. And she was not going to lose that. She was not going to fail Susan!

She just had to think the whole situation through thoroughly. There had to be a way.

Even as she tried to ponder a solution to her growing situation, Mark brought her into a large area with many chairs placed about in a seemingly orderly fashion. There were many natives of various ages, genders, and colors, a multitude of variety that Tellion had seldom seen in the Empire.

At Mark's direction, Tellion took a seat near the front of the room where a female native sat behind an enclosed glass room As Mark conversed with her and began writing things down on another one of their absurdly primitive particles of paper, Tellion felt her eyes wander around the room. She didn't know why she did that, only that something, some unseen and unfelt force, compelled her to. She really wished that she hadn't let her thoughts drift away from her very serious situation that held her very life on the line. But she couldn't help herself, and Tellion's eyes were drawn to a female sitting nearby in the corner of the room. She seemed very odd to Tellion. Mostly because she was wearing some kind of darkened shielding over her eyes, and she was carrying some kind of thin staff. But mostly, Tellion noticed her because she had a dog sitting right in front of her. Such a strange female native, and Tellion didn't understand why she was so focused on her.

As Tellion thought about this, the female native behind the glass rose from her chair.

"Ms. Loren. Is Ms. Loren here?"

The female with the dog stood up and grasped some kind of handle/harness that was around the dog. "Yes. I am."

"The doctor will see you now." The female tech stated.

Tellion watched Loren as she made some kind of faint gesture with her hand, and the dog began to walk ahead of her. As it did, Loren began swinging her small staff about in front of her, tapping it against the floor and anything else that it happened to strike in her path. Tellion thought that this was a strange to do, and even silly thing for one. Then the full realization finally came to Tellion of Loren's situation.

 _She can't see._ Tellion thought. _Something is wrong with her eyes._

Tellion didn't know if that was a very good, or a very bad thing for this Loren. Surely this wasn't her first time to this healing facility, so then she must have been exposed (unknowingly of course) to the Imperial Yeerk forces that had infiltrated this building. But her ailment certainly didn't make her a viable host in any possible matter. That was probably the only reason that Loren was still in possession of her own mind. And yet, Tellion thought with a hint of sadness, that also made one such as herself useless to the Yeerks. Perhaps there was a way, with all the advanced technology that was at the Empire's disposal, that Loren's eyesight could likely be restored to her. But even more sadly to Tellion's understanding, she knew the painful truth of the brutality of her own people. To do such a thing would require investing far too many resources for the sake of making one single female native a viable host body. And why would they bother when there was such an abundance of healthy specimens on this world for harvesting?

No, those with physical ailments like Loren, the undesirables, the Yeerks would just simply dispose of them once they had conquered this world. Much like they would have done to Susan if the truth of her situation had ever been revealed to them. With a full understanding of this…Tellion secretly hoped that somehow, the Andalite bandits would hold her people's forces at bay long enough for the Andalites to send another force to drive the Empire away from this world.

Silly thought it seemed to Tellion.

For if such a thing were to happen, it would likely mean her own death. But after the brief exposure she had had with living as a native, and the horrific image that she had witnessed from her dreams of what would befall this planet should the Yeerk forces prevail over the conquest of this world, Tellion had little doubt about her convictions of wanting to see this beautiful terrestrial sphere survive the twisted designs her people had in store for it.

"Champ, no!"

A cold, wet sensation on her hands brought Tellion out of her thoughts. She looked down at her lap to see the dog that helped Loren sniffing her hands. Even as Tellion stared at the creature's face, it seemed to look back at her with some sort of strange, almost unexplainable intelligence lurking in its brown eyes.

"I'm so sorry about this." Loren said, pulling Champ away from her. "Champ never behaves like this, I don't know what got into him."

"Is ok." Tellion told her as she patted Champ's head. "I like dog."

Loren smiled, though not directly at her face because of her lack of sight. "I'm glad you do. And thank you for being patcient with him, and me, Ms…"

"Susan." Tellion weakly said, still hating to call herself a name that wasn't hers. "I named Susan."

"Well it's very nice to meet you Susan."

Still smiling, Loren tucked her small stick under her arm and held out her hand in the friendly expression that natives did. Tellion reluctantly took her hand and shook it slightly. When she did, Loren's smile faded, and another expression came across her face. One Tellion wasn't entirely sure what it meant.

"Your hand's trembling." she said.

"How…" Tellion questioned. She didn't know how Loren could make such a guess.

"When you can't see," Loren explained. "you can hear, smell, and feel things a lot better. You can notice the little things that people who can see wouldn't recognize. But I'm sure you wouldn't understand something silly like that."

 _I understand a lot better than you ever could imagine._ Tellion thought. _It's why my kind are what they are._

Loren seemed to sense Tellion's distraught feelings through her body, even if she could barely feel them herself. She gently squeezed Tellion's hand.

"You're scared to be here, aren't you?"

"Yes." Tellion whispered, still not sure entirely herself how she was able to suddenly understand Loren's words. "Tests."

Loren's warm smile returned. "Well, for what it's worth, I think everything will be just fine. You'll get through this, Susan. No matter what you face, just think of it as a crazy adventure you have to go through. That's what I do whenever I come here. It helps me a lot, even though I can't really remember anything since the accident that took my eyesight. It kind of makes me think that I had some even crazier ones when I was younger…"

"Thank you." Tellion said, squeezing her hand back, hoping in her dwindling space of life that she could find a way to save both herself and Susan.

"Whatever it is that you find yourself up against in here, just keep on fighting, never give up." Loren told her. That was a really strange thing for her to say, Tellion thought. She released Tellion's hand and a strange shudder ran through her body. Loren lightly shook her head and stepped back. "Don't know where that came from, but I hope that helps. You take care of yourself Susan."

And with those parting words, Loren walked away from Tellion and exited the room. The moment she was gone, Mark returned to her. She watched in silence as he said some things to her, and realized that Mark had somehow not even noticed her conversation with Loren. That was odd, seeing as how they were only a short distance from him. Still, Tellion didn't let her mind wonder from the thoughts that were rushing through her. Tellion didn't understand it, but Loren's words continued to echo through her thoughts, rekindling her diminished spirit with renewed hope.

 _You'll get through this. Just keep fighting, never give up._

She didn't want to give up. But how could she do it? How could she save herself, and in turn save Susan? Tellion wanted to think of a way, but she just couldn't find the solution to that dilemma.

Then, suddenly, another statement jolted through Tellion's thoughts like a low yield blast of a Dracon beam. Visser Three's words, as horrific as they had always been to her, rolled across her mind, his sinister voice for once being an answer to Tellion's plight.

 _I'm sending you one of our smaller, more portable Kandrona ray generators. There will be 10,000 liters of Yeerk pool liquid also sent with you for this mission._

 _That was it!_ Tellion thought with excitement.

A Kandrona ray generator had been sent to this facility, along with Yeerk pool liquid with her former team! If they both were still here in this building, then there was a chance, a faint one, that she could save herself. But even if she were to somehow procure both of the essential elements of her survival, she still needed to create a viable Yeerk Pool in order to use them. Where could she create something like that without anyone noticing? There had to be a way. But what about Susan? Even if Tellion could somehow accomplish all of these extremely difficult steps to save herself, how could she also save Susan when she couldn't breathe on her own?

 _Come on Tellion!_ she screamed at herself. _You thought of a way of saving yourself, there has to be a way to save Susan too. You need her as much as she needs you right now._

Tellion searched through all of her stored memories, from this moment in the healing center, all the way back to when she had first entered Susan's body. Then…the very first thing that Tellion remembered when she had awoken in Susan's body. The tube that had been forced down her throat…the machine…

That machine…it must have helped Susan breath while she was incapacitated. Tellion's eyes widened with the realization.

 _Yes! That's it!_

If she could also find that native machine, and attach it to Susan before she left to absorb Kandrona, then Tellion could keep her alive while she was out of her body! There was a chance, even if it was only a slim one, that Tellion could save both of them. She just had to first do these tests, then find a way to put her plan into action. Tellion didn't even know how she was going to accomplish any of these insanely difficult tasks, and also keep Mark and Susan's family oblivious to it all. She had to try though, Tellion just couldn't give up.

Tellion was so absorbed in her thoughts about rescuing them both that she was oblivious to all else. So it was a sudden shock to her when a hand filled her vision. Tellion was brought back to the reality of where she was. Her eyes stared down at the hand that was stretched out her. She worked her vision up the arm it was attatched to, and the man that was standing before Tellion. He was surprisingly small for a native male, even smaller than Susan, but only by just a bit. His skin tone was similar to the same kind as that girl Cassie Tellion had met the other day, but slightly lighter. The white coat he wore made him stand out as one of the healers of the facility.

"Susan?" he said, as if he had already spoken her name before. "I said it's good to see you today and on your feet."

Tellion looked back down at his outstretched hand, and hesitantly took it in her own. She was still not entirely sure if her hesitancy was acceptable in the present situation. There was a moment of fear in her that she had somehow done something wrong and betrayed her identity.

To her ever greatful relief, the small man just gave Tellion a very friendly smile and gently shook her hand.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you in person Susan. I'm doctor Samier, I was…am, your primary physician."

Tellion just stared almost blankly at him, still trying to process the words he had spoken in a desperate attempt to understand what he had said. Dr. Samier appeared confused for a few moments. Then Mark spoke up.

"I tried to explain this to you earlier on the phone. Susan's has had a total memory loss. She hardly understands anything that we say. You have to use simple words and sentences for her to understand."

Dr. Samier lifted one of his eyebrows. "But…she is able to understand us, after just two days from waking up?"

Mark nodded. "I know. I can't truly explain it myself. But, I guess it is just good fortune."

"Fascinating." Dr. Samier whispered to himself as he stared at her, almost as if he were trying to peer through her skull and into 'her' brain. "I've never known of a case like this. It might just have to go into the record books as a true medical mystery. I'd say you are one very lucky lady Susan."

"Lucky?" Tellion asked, making it clear that she didn't understand what he meant.

Dr. Samier just smiled again. "Well, we'll go into that later."

He pointed at her. "You, come with me. Tests. We see if you are ok."

"Tests?" Tellion said, looking almost helplessly at Mark.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Yes, Susan. Tests. We need to see if you're healthy. That you're ok."

The fear of discovery returned to Tellion. No, she couldn't be discovered. She had just figured out a way to save herself and Susan, she couldn't have that hope snatched away from her in this final moment.

"No tests." Tellion said, desperately patting the side of her head. "I ok."

Dr. Samier lifted his hands in a guesture that mirrored the 'surrender' sign that Ellaine had given her last night. "I'm sure you are Susan. But I just want know that you're not in any real danger. You're husband Mark does too. We want to know you are fine."

"But." Tellion looked at Mark with a plea in her eyes. "I fine."

Mark pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. "You are fine Susan." he whispered into her ear. "But we have to be sure. Just a few tests. No fear, no pain. I promise."

 _I'm not afraid of pain, Mark._ Tellion thought. _I'm afraid somehow you'll see me. The real me. It'll place you in…you could lose your freedom, or your life. But, I'm also scared because if you see me for what I am, what would you think? How could you…how could even I…ever care for something as hideous as the slug that I truly am?_

She didn't want to follow Dr. Samier out of the room, but she knew that any attempt to break away from Mark would instantly draw all suspicious eyes in the building on her. Despite everything that had happened, the building was likely still saturated with controllers. And she would also likely make Mark extremely concerned for her well-being. No, she had to play the part of Susan until an opportunity presented itself to her sneak away and first try to find the Kandrona Ray generator, which she hoped was still in the building, along with the Yeerk Pool liquid. It was likely that they both were. Even though several days had passed since the Andalite attack, there still had to be a sizable amount of native attention drawn to this facility, and Tellion was certain that there wasn't a single Yeerk operating in the building that was willing to even risk the faintest chance of exposure. Not with how infuriated Visser Three surely was at the present time. So it was a high probability that the generator and the liquid were still in the building.

Then she was still going to have to find one of those machines that would help Susan breathe while Tellion wasn't in her.

Of course, even if by some divine fortune she was able to accomplish this, there was also the simple matter of Tellion having to transport all of that out of this building. And doing it without having Mark or anyone else notice.

So many things that she needed to accomplish. And all of them entirely dependent upon the success of each other…it felt so impossible to achieve.

But Tellion didn't want to just give up, because it would mean both her and Susan's deaths, yet Tellion couldn't help but feel the hopelessness of the situation weighing down on her.

Dr. Samier led them down several hallways, stopping finally in front of a solid door. Tellion didn't like that, because no one could see what occurred from out of the room, but there was nothing that she could do about it. He led them both inside, and Tellion saw that there were several primitive machines as well as various cabinates and equally primitive parchments files lying about. One of them, she noticed, had Susan's name on it.

Dr. Samier went over to the file with Susan's name and began writing down something on it with a little cylinder object. After he had finished, he walked back to them and handed the partchment to Mark.

"Normally we would have the patient sign these consent forms, but seeing that your wife is in her…current state…you'll have to sign off for her."

"What is this?" Mark asked, his eyes scanning over the multitude of sentences that filled the parchment.

"Standard forms that doesn't hold the hospital at fault. Sorry, but with all the commotion that happened the last few days, all of the administration is busy covering themselves from any potential lawsuits." Samier answered. "We're just having to be extra careful about everything right now."

Mark looked up at him. "You have 'in event of injury or death' in here."

Tellion didn't know exactly what the tone in his voice meant, but it sounded strangely similar to the kind that he had made when Mark had first demanded that she be released from the hospital three nights ago. That made Tellion a little nervous, but also a little comforted as well.

Samier held his hands up in that 'surrender' gesture again. "I understand your concern sir, but like I said this is just the hospital covering all the basics. If you ask me, I believe they're being overly paranoid. But you understand how these things work."

"Yes." Mark said with a heavy sound of the air draining from his lungs. "I understand. My hospital has had some rough patches too."

Samier handed the small cylinder object to Mark and gave a faint smile. "You know the kind of machines that we'll be using today. They have a very low yield radiation. It's almost completely harmless. We're just going to take a few scans of Susan's brain to make sure that she doesn't have any kind of damage that we haven't seen. This whole process shouldn't take more than an hour or two."

Mark didn't appear completely convinced by his words, but he still scribbled something down on the partchment in his hands near the bottom. Samier smiled and took it back from him. He placed the folder back where he had gotten it and produced a large vest of sorts that he handed to Tellion. It took a few very silly attempts on his part to try and explain to her how to place it over her body, but Tellion finally understood his actions. When she placed the large vest over her body, Samier turned to Mark.

"I'm sorry about this sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to wait in the lobby."

Mark's body instantly became very stiff and he stared down the smaller man. "You want me to just leave my wife here all by herself?"

"Sir, I can understand your concerns. I really do. I have a family of my own, and I wouldn't want to leave my wife if what happened to Susan happened to her. But you have to understand, the hospital is completely on edge right now. We've already had several of our directors and administrators resign over that…fiasco from a few days ago. We're all having to be extremely careful in how we handle every situation. And I can't leave you in here to be exposed to any radiation, even if it's a completely miniscule amount."

"Then I'll wait out in the hallway!" Mark exclaimed. "Susan's already terrified of being here, and I'm not going to just leave her alone like this."

"Sir," Samier said in an almost pleading voice. "I need you to stop thinking like a husband for just a moment, and think like the doctor that you are. We can't leave you in here with her, or even have you nearby, it could affect the results of the tests we're going to perform, and we need to get as close to 100% accuracy to ensure that there's no serious underlying issues with her brain."

Mark made a face that gave Tellion the impression that he didn't truly believe all of that, but he eventually lowered his head and released a faint breath. He finally looked up from the floor and at her.

"Susan, I have to leave you for a while."

Tellion understood enough of his words to know that he was going to leave her alone. The fear of being by herself, having to fend for herself, sent a spike of fear through Tellion.

"No." she said to him in a weak voice, grasping his hands. "No leave me."

The way he looked at her with such sadness made Tellion want to just vanish from existance. Dr. Samier seemed to be able to read the tension between them.

"I'll give you two a moment." he said, exiting the room.

Mark watched him leave before looking back to Tellion. "Everything is going to be fine, Susan." he said, placing his hand on her cheek and sending several powerful tremors through her body.

She stared up into his eyes, wanting so desperately to know the words that she needed to speak to Mark to let him understand that she didn't want him to leave her side, that she needed him to be there with her. But she just didn't know them. All she could do was look at his face with the emotions that were raging all through her.

"Please don't look at me like that." Mark said as he squeezed her hand. "I don't want to do this anymore than you do. But…you'll be fine. Dr. Samier is a good man, he'll take good care of you. And it will only be for a little bit, then I'll take you away from here, and you'll never be back again."

So many words. So much that she didn't really understand. And yet, Tellion understood that he didn't want to leave her. He WANTED to be with her, but the situation wouldn't allow him. That didn't really make her feel any better.

Mark seemed to sense her lack of belief in his words. And yet, he gave her that smile that made her insides feel so very warm and comforting. His eyes suddenly shined with a power that Tellion had never seen before.

"You'll be just fine honey." Mark assured her. "Don't give up. Just keep fighting."

 _Don't give up. Just keep fighting._ The exact same words that Loren had spoken to her. What was going on? Why would they both say those exact same words to her in this situation? She didn't have any more time to dwell on the magnitude and greater meaning of those words as Mark gently kissed her forehead.

That one act made Tellion shudder and forget everything else that was going through her thoughts. Oh how she so desperately wanted him to do that to her lips again. Tellion just knew that if he were to do that once more, it would instantly make her feel so much better. If this was to truly be her last day of existence, then she wished that she could repeat that feeling, the greatest, and most enjoyable, feeling that Tellion had ever experienced in her life. But he didn't.

Instead, he gave her that warm and comforting smile that instantly made Tellion's worries diminish. Then, much to Tellion's sadness, he left the room.

Dr. Samier returned, stopping at the doorway and looking out.

"Don't worry sir, we'll make this very short and have her back to you in no time."

Tellion didn't know who he was talking to. Mark, she assumed.

Samier finally turned to face. "Scared?"

Tellion didn't know that word. She just shrugged her shoulders, mimicking the native expression of not understanding. Dr. Samier stared at her for a moment, rubbing his smooth face as he thought of what to say next.

"Fear?" he asked.

Fear. Yes. Tellion understood that word. Better than most other words she had learned. It was an expression she had lived most of her life with. It was almost as much a part of her as was her desire to know a better existence. She rapidly nodded her head.

Dr. Samier clearly read her expressions. He smiled warmly at her. "No fear Susan. No pain. Mark will be back soon."

Though not understanding all of his words, there was enough there to put Tellion slightly at ease. Tellion gave him a weak smile of her assurance to his desire to not hurt her. That seemed to please Dr. Samier. He kept his smile as he spoke to someone else outside the room.

"Hold my next appointment, this might take a while." he said in a very clearly gentle voice.

After he had said those words, Dr. Samier turned his back to Tellion and closed the door to the room. Then…

…everything changed.

Nothing physically happened that Tellion could see or truly understand, but she instantly felt a change in the very air of the cramped room. A tension coursed all through her body as she stared at Dr. Samier's back as he remained motionless in the only entrance, or exit, to the room. She saw that his entire body posture changed, it became instantly rigid and on guard. He didn't say anything to her as he lifted one of his hands up to a small metallic portion of the door that he was blocking. The loud, sharp click of a lock being placed caused Tellion to jump slightly where Tellion was sitting. The skin all across her body felt a sensation of fear flow through it, in a series of hundreds of miniature bumbs that made her tiny frame feel one complete edge.

Slowly, perhaps even deliberately, Dr. Samier twisted his head slightly to look back at her. It was just enough for him to glare at her with narrowed eyes that radiated with a gaze that could only be expressed as truly sinister. Tellion instantly knew that something was horrifically wrong with this situation.

"You thought you were so clever, didn't you." Dr. Samier spoke to her native Gedd/Yeerk language.

The instant he spoke those words, absolute fear spiked all through Tellion's 'body' and the breath escaped her terrified lungs. She moved away from him, her back pressing into the wall of the room from which there was no possibility of escape. 'Dr. Samier' seemed to take a mild pleasure of her apparent terror of him. He deliberately turned to face her at a slow pace.

"You must have never been in a native host before." he said, walking towards the cabinets on the walls. "Otherwise you would have known not to make the expressions that came across your face. So it's safe to confirm my suspicions. You were with Temrash's team, weren't you?"

Tellion didn't answer, not that it mattered. Her silence did nothing to dissuade the controller standing before her. He opened a nearby cabinet, and pressed a latch near the opening. A false wall at the back of cabinet lifted, revealing some kind of locker hidden within. The controller that wasn't the true Dr. Samier reached inside.

"Of course you know that I'm not really Dr. Samier." he said. "But he has proven to be a very useful host, both in his position in this facility to help us secure new hosts and his naturally gentle looks that throw off any real suspicion. That man you came in with didn't even have the slightest suspicion of my real intentions. Then again, neither did you. And you're a Yeerk too. Kind of insulting of you really, if you think about it."

"You know, right after the Andalites attacked, it was complete madness in here." Dr. Samier said. "Not only did we lose the entire team that was meant to infest the governor, but we also suffered the loss of nearly a quarter of our personnel in this facility. We had to purge all of the traces of evidence of our existence in this location. We've been set back for months, we even had to call in a hunter team to dispose of nearly a dozen former hosts that tried to escape when their Yeerks perished. And that's only the beginning. Visser Three…well, let's just say he was not very pleased with the failure of the operation and the loss of one of his best lieutenants. He's…disciplined the three commanders over me that were running the operations in this facility. I guess it's good for me, seeing as how now I'm in charge of things here. But we're not talking about me right now. This is more about you. It took me nearly two days to figure everything out. Despite the confusion that happened right after those damn blue furred bastards attacked us, one of our techs reported that single Yeerk had been taken out of the pool just before the attack. "

When he turned back to her, Tellion saw that 'Samier' held something in his hand, a metallic cylinder of some kind.

"Our tech didn't know the name of that Yeerk, but she did report to me that she had placed the transport container in one of the closed off rooms for that Yeerk's protection, but couldn't remember exactly which one it was in that confusing time. For even the life of me, we couldn't find the container that had held that Yeerk, no matter how hard we searched. I had to go through countless records in my spare time, which was very limited with my new promotion. But I did find something very interesting."

He moved slightly closer to Tellion, almost as if he were finding great enjoyment in her obvious fear of him.

"A woman who had been in a completely catatonic state suddenly, and quite unexplainably, awoke that same night, and almost immediately left the hospital. Quite the coincidence if I do say so. Almost too perfect in the timing. Don't you agree?"

Tellion didn't answer him. And he didn't seem to care.

"I suppose it's only proper that I formally introduce myself to you. I am Callisum 1643, newly appointed commander of this facility. And you are?"

Tellion said nothing. Silence was her only true defense in this moment. Callisum didn't agree with her lack of willing to communicate with him.

"Silence is not going to save you here. Because if my guess is correct, then you've got less than a day before you succumb to Kandrona starvation. Despite your ability to evade our forces, you can't escape your biology. So I knew that at some point you would be back here. Looking for a way to save yourself from the eventual death of from being cut off from Kandrona ray nourishment." Callisum gloated. "But I got tired of waiting, so I, how shall we say, 'accelerated' the process. Now here is the situation that you find yourself in, whoever the hell you are."

Callisum stepped closer to Tellion, the sinister look in his eyes burning deeply into her very spirit.

"I'm going to explain all of this to Visser Three. I've seriously even considering making up a bunch of nonsense. About how you betrayed all of us, and leaked the plans for infesting the Governor to the Andalites so that you could dispose of Temrash and eventually replace him as Visser Three's top subordinate. It won't be too hard for him to believe that, seeing as how you were the only Yeerk to survive the attack. Oh yes, you will have the full wraith of his boundless rage unleashed upon you. It won't take long before he forces you to beg him for the mercy of death, but he won't grant it to you. The longest I have ever heard of anyone subjected to his fury lasted for almost three of this planet's daily cycles. Who knows, Visser Three may try to break his record with you, considering how mad he is right now."

Callisum moved even closer to Tellion, his harsh face glaring at her. "Or, I can end your life with a simple blast of a Dracon beam. Of course it will hurt beyond comprehension, but it will only last for a few moments. And all you have to do is one simple thing."

He took one step towards her, which only added to Tellion's fear.

"You're going to tell me the names of everyone that you interacted with since you left this place. Of course, that man, 'Mark' as he's called, will be immediately scheduled for infestation. But it would be a lot easier for our forces if you were to just tell me the names of everyone that you meet with in the last two days. If we're quick, the hunter teams won't dispose of them, they'll just be targeted for infestation. Think about it, they don't have to die because of your selfish actions."

Death…or infestation. That was the fate for Arthur, Linda, and Ellaine? No. They hadn't done anything wrong. And now their very lives were in jeopardy because of her. Tellion felt a deeply entrenched worry suddenly ignite within her at the thought of Susan's family becoming slaves within their own bodies simply because of the actions that she had taken. And Mark as well. This concern was unlike anything she had ever known, it superseded even her own desire for existence. Even as Callisum continued to close in on her, Tellion felt a desire to protect Mark and Susan's family unleash within the core of her very being.

Tellion didn't answer him. Instead, all of the muscles in her body tightened at the prospect of a perceived threat that was before her. She was still too new to this body, and had yet to understand all of the delicate intricacies of how it functioned. But she clearly was not showing submission to Callisum. Her apparent defiance of his continued demands only seemed to heighten Callisum's growing anger. With a grunt of absolute frustration, he flicked the small cylinder in his hand. It extended out into metal rod, with a sparking tip that crackled with a sinister dark red energy at the end. Tellion instantly recognized the device in his hands and her eyes widened with terror.

"Judging by the reaction upon your face, then you know what's in my hand." Callisum said.

He lifted the crackling end up to his now sinister face, the corners of his lips curving up into an absolutely diabolical smile. The showing of his teeth only seemed to enhance the evil that was present upon his face.

"The fuge baton." Callisum said with a low laugh. Callisum used his free hand to gently tap a finger against the side of his head. "One tap of the end against your head…and it will fully stimulate to you the horrific pain of the final stages the fuge. The agony of suffering from Kandrona starvation will rampage all through your frail body, and your instincts will take complete control over you. You'll have no choice but to leave your host in the state of absolute agony that you'll endure. It took quite a long time, and a lot of expendable Yeerks, to perfect the effects of this weapon."

Tellion had heard of this device, but she had never imagined that the Empire, even as diabolical as she had come to see it as, would have created such a horrific instrument of torture for their own kind. And yet, here was the very device before her eyes to show the cruelty her own people were capable of. Even against their own kind.

Callisum's patience with her was apparently exhausted. His lips tightened and he pointed the crackling end of the fuge baton at Tellion.

"I'm growing really sick of this little game of silence that you're playing with me." he growled. "Either you tell me right now what I want to know, or I'm going to pull you from that body and take you to directly to Visser Three, you're choice."

Tellion remained both silent and motionless. Her eyes never wavered from that crackling reddish end of the fuge baton. If that sparking dark energy hit the side of her head, she was going to be pulled from Susan's body. And…Susan would die. Not that Callisum would care.

Callisum wasn't satisfied with her apparent lack of choice.

"Tell me now!" he snarled, lunging towards Tellion, the sparkling end of the fuge baton crackling just in front of her terrified eyes.


	9. A Traitor's Gamble Part 2

Callisum jammed the terrifying end of the Fugue baton right at Tellion, fully intending on ramming the sparking tip straight into her forehead. She reacted in pure desperation, rolling to her side and off the small table that she had been sitting on. As she went down, the crackling tip of the Fugue baton passed so dangerously close to her that Tellion felt the heat pass over her fragile skin. As she hit the floor, the Fugue baton's end also hit the wall just where her head had been a moment before, leaving s scorched mark against its surface as a testament to the danger the weapon posed.

Callisum grunted in frustration, pulling the baton back to his side and facing Tellion. "Faster than I thought. Not that it matters. You'll be done soon enough. But," he laughed slightly under his breath as he held the sparking end very close to his face, casting ominous shadows across his gaze. "I am very curious to see what will happen to your host once I remove you from them."

 _No._ Tellion thought. _I won't let you…I won't let you murder Susan!_

But she was no fighter, and it clearly showed to Callisum as she desperately scooted away, looking so laughably pathetic to him that he didn't make any immediate attempt to attack her. Displaying an evil grin, he began to pace towards her. Tellion's back finally hit into the wall. She had nowhere left to go. Her eyes darted momentarily to the door, her only escape. She then looked back to him, knowing all too painfully well that she didn't have any hope of opening that door before Callisum would be on her.

"Go ahead, run." he mocked. "It'll make this even more enjoyable for me. I always like to play with my prey a bit before the kill. But in your case, I'd rather watch while Visser Three tortures you. Are you ready then, little fugitive? Are you ready to face your painful and scream filled end?"

Tellion forced herself to her feet even as she felt the hopelessness of her situation pressing in on her.

 **Don't stop fighting. Never give up.**

Those words. That voice. Tellion's eyes widened upon hearing that. Just as she did, Callisum attacked. Clearly expecting an easy hit, he threw his whole body at her with the baton extended out to jab at her skull. Tellion grasped the edges of the large vest she was wearing and threw it straight at him even as she ducked. The action caught Callisum off-guard and he missed her once again.

Growling in his frustration, he slapped the vest aside and swung wildly several times at Tellion. She just barely managed to keep the crackling end of the baton from striking her as she stumbled backwards from him. She hit into another surface, cornered once more. She saw something nearby, looking like a small knife.

Tellion grasped the tiny blade as Callisum rushed towards her. Tellion stabbed at him when he was almost on top of her. But she had no combat training, had never used a knife of any sorts before. Callisum easily knocked her jab aside, grasping her wrist and twisted it until the pain caused Tellion's grip around the weapon to slacken. Tellion weakly clamped her free hand around Callisum's wrist that held the Fugue baton as he attempted to ram it into the side of her head, and struggled to keep that crackling end away from her head even as Callisum slowly forced it closer and closer to her skull.

"You fool." he hissed. "You're no warrior."

After he said that, Callisum smashed Tellion's hand that held the small knife against the edge of the table. The pain that exploded all through Tellion's hand caused the blade to slip from her fingers. It clattered to the floor, its noise mimicking the crushing feeling that rushed all through Tellion's arm.

"You're just another pathetic, weak Yeerk that hopes to hide in the shadows of this war. Never willing to risk anything, never willing to do what needs to be done to ensure victory. It's because of weaklings like you that the Andalites are still able to oppose us."

Callisum shifted his smaller body until he was pressing the full weight of his frame down upon her and grasped the handle of his weapon with his other hand, giving added strength in his effort to press the jolting end of the baton into her head. With no options left, Tellion brought up her injured hand in a vain effort to shield herself from the impending doom.

Callisum appeared more amused by her struggles than frustrated as he smacked her injured hand away. "You think any of your struggles makes a difference? It'll end the same way no matter what you do. Soon you'll know the pain of the Fugue, and I'll see what will happen to this body once you leave it. Should make for an entertaining and useful experience. I may even have to recommend to the Visser about starting a trial program to place hosts into a chemically induced coma. It may prove to be a task with having to keep them sedated and have their lives sustained while their Yeerks are away, but that might be a viable alternative to having to go through the trouble of keeping them caged all the time. This may be a big opportunity for me, don't you think, little fugitive?"

Tellion still didn't answer. She was fighting back with all her strength, and losing. She could do nothing except watch in wild fear as that sparking end lowered towards her sweat soaked face.

 _Just keep fighting, never give up._

She kept repeating those words over and over in her terrified mind. It helped her to keep holding on, even though she knew that her death, and Susan's, was only moments away as the heat from the Fugue baton's tip began to burn her skin.

"Stop fighting dammit!" Callisum snarled into her face. "You can't save yourself. Give up. Just give up!"

His frustration with her struggles clearly growing into full on anger, Callisum shifted his body to give himself a better vantage position to force the baton's tip into her skull. His legs parted slightly as he made this shift.

 **He's vulnerable!** That voice that had spoken to Tellion before, now echoed all through Tellion's terrified mind. **Strike him now. Now!**

An image flashed through Tellion's mind of what she needed to do.

She didn't think. She didn't question it. She simply reacted.

Crying desperately through her clenched teeth, Tellion threw her knee upwards with all her might, and rammed it right into the space between Callisum's legs. The reaction was instantaneous.

Callisum stopped trying to force the baton into her skull and his body became as still as a piece of solid metal. His eyes widened to an almost impossible width. A faint, weak sound sipped from his gapping mouth as he released his grip on her wrist and desperately grasped to cover the area that Tellion had just hit.

Tellion didn't hesitate this time. She wrapped both of her hands around the wrist that held the weapon, twisted it back to face Callisum, and rammed the electrified end of the Fugue baton straight into the side of Callisum's head. Dark red energy crackled across his bewildered face, illuminating his eyes with a momentarily hideous red glow. He fell away from her, collapsing to the floor, his body devoid of an apparent life other than a few faint spasms. His eyes remained open, staring off into nothingness. Breathing heavily and with her own body shaking, Tellion stared down Callisum's limp form. A faint odor filled her nostrils, reminding Tellion vaguely of the smell that had come from the 'burgers' from yesterday, and it made her stomach twist in revulsion. Unable to take it, Tellion quickly backed away from him and into the far corner of the room. She held the Fugue baton tightly in her hands, her mind almost oblivious to the heat of its crackling energy against her hands as she watched what happened next.

Though it was a natural process for Tellion, one she had done her entire life, she had never before witnessed it with her 'own' eyes. Partially because she had never been very near any of the demarcation or infestation areas, mostly because Tellion didn't want to see anything that reminded her of what she truly was. And here she found herself in this moment, seeing it for the very first time.

A Yeerk leaving their host.

There was almost nothing to see at first, just the body of Dr. Samier continuing to shake in a series of mini spasms. Then…she saw it.

Deep within his left ear, Tellion saw a pair of very thin appendages wiping about wildly. They each grasped an edge of Dr. Samier's ear. Then Callisum, in all of his disgusting and grotesque greenish slug form, appeared. Tellion felt her insides tighten at the sight of him, because it was a permanent reminder to her of what she truly was also. There was a faint, cringing pop as Callisum involuntarily freed himself from Samier. Even at the distance she was from him, Tellion could see Callisum's invertebrate body trembling, the after effects of the Fugue baton still ravishing his frail body.

A low, almost painful moan came from the still body of Dr. Samier. He wasn't dead, as Tellion had first feared. She saw his eyes blink, then his hands start to shake. Then she saw Callisum start to move as well. His palp antenna began to feel about, even as they continued to spasm uncontrollably, their ends desperately feeling about to find the ear of his former host.

 _No._ Tellion thought as Callisum's palp antenna brushed against Dr. Samier's ear. _You won't take him again._

Tellion rushed over to where they were and kicked Callisum away from Samier just as he was attempting to pull himself back towards his former slave's ear. Callisum skidded across the floor away from Samier, leaving a slimy trail in his wake. When he slapped against the wall, Dr. Samier's hand came to life and grasped Tellion's ankle. She tried to move away from him, but his grip was too strong for her to break free.

"K…kkk…" Samier moaned as he struggled to make his body move.

"I…" Tellion struggled to find a right series of words to speak to the male that was struggling to regain control over his own body.

Samier's head twisted to glare up at her. "Kee…keep…aw…away…from…me."

He released her, and Tellion moved away from him, as he had warned her to do. Samier slowly, and clearly very weakly, pulled himself to his shaky feet. He groaned in pain as he tried to move his legs, the injury she had dealt him still very much causing him immense pain. Bracing himself against the table that he (no, not really him) had only minutes before been trying to pin her against, Samier stared at Tellion with wild eyes. His face transformed from shock, into one that appeared very similar to the kind that he had made when Callisum had forced him to attack her. His eyes stared at her for only a moment, then began to dart about the room. He snapped his head back towards Callisum. His eyes glared with the kind of hatred that Tellion was all too familiar with to her kind that the beings they enslaved harbored.

"You bastard!" Samier roared, lunging across the room, clearly ignoring the pain of her blow. "You took away my life! You took my family!"

Tellion turned away and shut her eyes as she saw his foot slammed down on Callisum. That didn't stop her from hearing the sickening pop of Callisum's life stamped out. It also wasn't just one stomp. There came another. And another. And another. Dr. Samier, now freed from the horrific fate that had befallen every controller Yeerk slave, continued to smash his foot against his former ruler.

Tellion couldn't stand the sound. It was the echoing of a death that she had only narrowly avoided. She covered her ears in a vain attempt to block out the sound. But nothing she did could completely shield her from the heavy impacts of Callisum's gruesome demise. Only after the impacts had ended did Tellion risk lowering her hands. Shaking from her own fright, Tellion dared herself to look back.

On the far side of the room, Dr. Samier glared down at the sickening greenish smear spread all across the floor in front of him. It was all that remained of the sadistic Yeerk that had been Callisum 1643. And in that moment, Tellion didn't truly know what she felt from what she was seeing.

Yes, Callisum had shown himself to be a truly sadistic and diabolical being. Yes, he had planned on killing her, in one horrific way or another. And yet, he had been a Yeerk, one of her own kin. Had he truly been evil in the core of his being, or had he merely been shaped and molded into what he was by a life of cruelty that came with being trapped within the Yeerk Empire? Tellion didn't fully understand if there was a true answer to that question. Nor did she truly understand why she was even caring for the death of one that had only planned on sadistic malice for her. No matter what she thought, Callisum was dead now, and nothing that she did would ever change that.

Dr. Samier look up from where he had smashed Callisum under his feet at her. There was a moment of silence as she stared at the native Samier as he truly was. Then, he leapt at an object discarded on the floor, the blade that she had tried to use to defend herself. Taking it in his hands, he pointed the small weapon at her.

"You won't take me again!" Samier shouted at her. "You hear me? I'll never be a slave again, you vicious bitch!"

He advanced towards her, the blade clutched tightly in his trembling hand. Tellion's terrified eyes darted from the blade to Samier's own scared face. She instinctively backed away from him and into the nearby corner. Even as he continued to close in, Tellion could see the fear that lurked within his eyes. Samier's wouldn't allow himself to become a slave again. He would do anything, anything, to remain free.

"You're not going to ever tell the others about this. I'm going to make certain of that." Samier mumbled to himself as he raised the blade high over his head and loomed over Tellion as she cowered in the corner.

"Please." Tellion begged him, speaking in her native Gedd/Yeerk dialect as she held the Fugue baton out in front of her as a clumsy shield. "Don't hurt me."

Her plea, desperate and full of sorrow, halted Samier. He stood poised over her to deliver the blow that would end her life. Yet, his eyes shinned with shock and his jaw fell. The small blade quivered in his hand as he stared at her.

"You…" he said, his words stuttering in surprise. "I…understand you."

Tellion barely understood his words herself, yet she was able to surmise that somehow…as impossible as it should have been, Samier was able to hear and process the words of Tellion's native language.

"Understand?" Tellion continued to talk to him in her people's tongue. "You know what I'm saying?"

Samier backed away from her, his face a mixture of shock and perhaps even fear. The hand that held the blade dropped to his side. "Yes. Yes, I can. How do I understand what you're saying?"

Sensing that imminent death was not about to take her, Tellion cautiously lowered the Fugue baton. She listened to his words, processing them while trying to formulate an answer to the bewildered Samier. Tellion thought through her memories of studying Yeerk technology, and the answer came to her.

"Universal translator." Tellion spoke, more to herself than Samier.

"A what?"

Tellion pointed at her ear. The one on her side that Callisum wouldn't have crawled out of to show Samier.

"The Empire," she said to him. "has many different species that it claims dominion over. Our ancestral language is difficult for most species to speak, and it's too difficult for us to learn all of the ones from the beings that my people have, 'acquired'. We created these translators that are implanted in the non-dominate ear canal of newly acquired hosts. It allows the various species of controllers to communicate to each other with ease."

"But," Samier said. "you don't have one?"

Again, Tellion had difficulty understanding every word that Samier spoke, but she was able to figure out what he was asking her. She shook her head.

"No. This 'body' wasn't worth the trouble of the Empire to do that to."

Samier stood his ground before her, and kept the knife held tightly in his hand. But it stayed at his side in a non-threatening way. Tellion took that for a good sign. At least he wasn't going to outright kill her.

Yet.

"And the woman?" he asked, pointing at her. "What happened to her? Is she…still in there? Is she your prisoner?"

Tellion again shook her head before blurting out her response. "No! This woman…Susan…is not here with me. I don't know how to explain any of it, but I've looked all through her entire mind, and there's no trace of her anywhere. If I had found her, I would have released Susan. I'm not a slave master, not anymore…"

Samier stared at her with an expression that Tellion had still yet to fully grasp.

"What…kind of Yeerk are you?"

"One that doesn't want to be what my kind are anymore." Tellion answered with all the truth her spirit could muster.

"So…"

Samier narrowed one of his eyes at her.

"Callisum," he said 'his' name with a shudder, "wasn't wrong. You are a traitor."

"If 'traitor' means that I am no longer part of the Empire, then the answer is yes." Tellion answered. "I don't want to be a part of what we're doing to your world."

Tellion wasn't sure how it was possible, but Samier's guard slowly lowered the more they spoke. It was as if he was able to see her true feelings, and understand that she meant him no harm.

"Alright then." he said, moving towards the door with the knife still in his hand. "You freed me, so I won't tell anyone about what happened here. That makes us even. Now I'm leaving. Don't try to stop me."

"You can't…" Tellion said weakly.

"NO!" Samier shouted, pointing the blade at her. "You don't know what that…thing did to me. My wife…my children…it made me put more of those slugs like you into them. It took away everything in this life that I care about! I have to save my family."

For once, despite her fear, Tellion found the courage to make herself do something that she knew she needed to do. With the single heartbeat of her host body hammering against the inside of the chest, she moved herself between Samier and the only way out.

"Get out of the way." He growled, twisting the blade slightly to show her its clearly sharp edge.

"You can't save them." Tellion told him, the sadness apparent in her words despite using her Gedd/Yeerk language.

"You may have saved me." Samier growled. "But that doesn't make us friends. Get out of my way, or I'll kill you."

Tellion knew very little of the words he said. But somehow, like so many time since she had entered Susan's body, she was able to understand a word in relation to what she already knew. Kill…meant death. It meant the taking of one's life by another. She was so very familiar with that concept, she had seen it all her life. And yet, knowing the danger that she was facing, Tellion stood her ground.

"Please listen to me." she pleaded with Samier. "It's too late for your family. I'm…sorry."

"No!" Samier shouted, pointing the knife at her. "You don't know anything about this. I'm going to save my family!"

Tellion weakly shook her head. "No…you can't. The Yeerk forces…they'll just capture you again and place another one of my kind in you. Or kill you. There's nothing that you can do for them. Not right now."

"You…you don't know that!" Samier shouted, his voice clearly teetering on the edge of collapsing.

Despite his anger, the threats that he gave, and the blade clutched in his trembling hands, Tellion held her ground. She didn't know what kind of expressions she was displaying for this poor native, only that they mirrored her own feelings.

"You can't save them." Tellion pleaded, moving cautiously towards him. "You…can't…"

Samier shook his head, yet even Tellion could see the truth in his eyes. He knew…just like her, that there was nothing that he could do to save the ones that he cared about. Samier grasped his face with his free hand and began to cry. All the strength in his body faded, and he collapsed to his knees. Tellion couldn't stand to see this poor being the way he was. Ignoring all of her internal warnings, she went to him. Kneeling in front of him, Tellion put the Fugue baton on the floor and cautiously placed a hand on Samier's shoulders. The moment she did, Samier brought the blade he was still holding up and pressed it into her torso, just under her rib cage.

"Why?" Samier whispered, not daring to even look at her face. "Why shouldn't I just kill you? How are you any different from that, monster, that controlled my body like a puppet? Give me one reason why."

The blade's edge dug into her skin, the pain making it all too apparent to Tellion the mortal danger that she had placed herself in. Yet, despite all of the pain and fear, she refused to move away from Samier.

"I don't have one." Tellion whispered to him, refusing to take her hand off of his shoulder. "But…I am sorry for what my people have done to you, and your family."

Samier growled through his clenched teeth, pressing the blade so hard into Tellion that it pierced her skin. It was a pain that Tellion strangely embraced, for she truly felt that she deserved it, despite not being truly responsible for what happened to Samier. It only made Tellion squeeze her hand on Samier's shoulder tighter. No matter how much it hurt her, she felt that Samier needed to be physically shown that not all Yeerks were what he believed they were. And her actions had a reaction. Samier's body shuddered, and the blade slipped from his fingers, clattering to the floor. His head fell against her shoulder, and he began to cry.

It was a sorrow that Tellion knew fairly well. It was the pain that she had inflicted upon Tallaxia for so many countless times. It was the pain that had transformed her into the thing that she was now. A Yeerk, but not truly a Yeerk.

"Why are you like this?" Samier cried into her shoulder. "Why are you…"

"I don't know." Tellion answered truthfully. "I just…am different."

For the next several minutes, Tellion was the pillar that Samier needed her to be in his most vulnerable moment. She ignored the burning in her torso, the fear of the impending death from the Fugue, and the seemingly impossibility of her chances of saving herself and Susan. She was just…there for Samier.

When she heard his cries of pain begin to subside, Tellion pulled away slightly so that she could look Samier in the face. Despite his suffering, he kept his gaze fixated upon her.

"Samier," she whispered. "I need your help. I need to save Susan, but I can't do that without you."

"What…are you talking about?" he asked.

"You know what…Callisum said." Tellion hesitated to say his name, yet she still found the strength to do so. "I have less than a day before my body, my real body, succumbs to the effects of Kandrona starvation. I'll die without Kandrona ray absorption."

"Then leave the woman." Samier said in a hushed voice. "You can just go back…"

"It's too late for that now. I'm a deserter, and traitor to my kind. If I try to go back to the main Yeerk pool, the others of my kind will kill me. Do I deserve to die simply for what I am?" Tellion asked, looking straight into Samier's eyes. "I…never asked to be born into this life. Or this body. But…I have tried so very hard to make the most good of this life that was given to me. And now, I've found a life that I belong in. If I go away, then Susan will become as she was before I entered her. And that would…destroy Mark and her family. She's lost in her mind, I have…I need…to find her. I have to give Susan her life back, but I need more time to do it. I…have to survive to save her. Please, help me. Save me."

"But, what can I do?" Samier asked.

"Callisum was the commander of this outpost, then he must have known about a portable Kandrona generator. I know that my team was given one, along with a significant amount of Yeerk Pool liquid. I need to find them to save myself, and Susan. Callisum must have known where they were."

"He didn't know much about that kind of stuff." Samier said. "But I remember him saying that all of the Yeerk equipment for that mission was stored away in the lower levels of this building. The stuff you might need is probably down there."

"Lower levels?" Tellion said, vaguely understanding that he meant that what she needed was in the bottom of the building, "But I also need something else. I need the machine that was helping Susan to breathe before I entered her body. Without it, she'll die when I leave her. I need it as much as I need the Kandrona ray."

"I know what you're talking about. It's called a Ventilator." Samier said to Tellion.

"Ven…il…ator." Tellion repeated.

Samier nodded. "Yes. We use it to help people breathe when they're too injured to do it on their own."

"I need that machine." Tellion told him. "Can you get it for me?"

Samier nodded. "Yes…I think I can get one. But, I have to take it down to the lower levels where the other things you'll need are."

Again, Tellion barely knew his words, but she understood that Samier was trying to help her. She bobbed her head up and down to mimic him. "Yes. Please take it down there. I need it."

Then, Tellion thought of something else. "But…what about Mark? And Susan's family? How will I be able to do any of the things that I need to without them seeing anything? They can't know the truth, it would put them all in mortal danger."

Samier didn't speak for a few moments, his eyes wandering in deep thought. Then he rose from the floor and weakly shambled over to the safe where Callisum had pulled the Fugue baton from. From inside he pulled out a small capsule that rattled as he showed it to her.

"Sleeping pills." he said to her as she shook the capsule. "This was meant for the governor and his staff. You can use this on Mark and the others. This will put all of them to sleep, hopefully long enough for you to do what you need to do."

"Sleep…" Tellion said as she stared at the capsule. "It won't hurt anyone?"

"No." Samier whispered.

"Remember, only one per person."

He lifted a single finger to emphasize his point. "Just one pill for one person. Anymore would be dangerous. Do you understand that?"

One for one. Tellion was able to understand that.

"I understand." she told him.

Samier nodded in approval. He offered out his free hand, somewhat hesitantly, to her. Tellion was also felt a bit of hesitation in taking it, but the need to save herself and Susan, combined with her feeling of Samier's gesture of help to her, gave Tellion the strength and trust she needed to take his hand. He lifted Tellion to her feet and gave her the capsule. She clutched it tightly to her chest as Samier unlocked the door and cautiously checked outside.

"I'm going to speak to Mark, tell him that you need more tests. That'll give you more time, but you need to be back in this room soon." He wrote a crude series of numbers on a small piece of parchment and handed her. Tellion glanced down at it and instantly memorized them. Samier handed her a small piece of plastic that had his face imprinted upon it. He pointed down the hallway opposite that she had come from.

"Go this way. First left. Then a metal door split in the middle, elevator. Buttons on the right. You press B2. Understand?"

"I understand enough." Tellion answered.

"At B1, the elevator will stop. Open the panel under the buttons, put that key," he pointed at the plastic square he had given her. "inside, then press the numbers I wrote down for you. You'll go to B2. That's where…the pool was."

Tellion involuntarily shuddered at the mention of the Yeerk pool. It was where she had been ordained by forces far beyond her understanding to die. And where other forces equally greater than her had chosen to spare her life. And now here she was. Still alive. Still fighting to stay alive.

"The equipment is in the boxes next to the pool. I think…the Kandrona ray is there. But a lot has happened the last few days. A lot that Callisum didn't know about. But it's your best chance."

"I'll take any chance given to me." Tellion answered truthfully.

Samier nodded.

"If you get it, take it through the door opposite of the elevator. You'll have to use the card and the second set of numbers I gave you. If they work, you'll come out into a sub-basement parking garage."

Tellion stared at Samier, making it all too apparent she didn't understand what he had just said.

"Lots of human, native, vehicles for transport. Put what you need in the back of one." He gave her one last thing, just as thin as the parchment he had given her. "Put this sticker under the driver side door handle, on the left side of the vehicle, so I'll know which one to use. You peel this layer off, then press it on the metal. Do you understand me?"

So many words. So much she still didn't understand. But, there was just enough for Tellion to believe that she grasped what Samier had told her. "Take what I need. Put in the back of one of the human vehicles, put this 'sticker' under the handle so you will know which one to use. Right?"

"Correct." Samier said. "While you do that, I'll distract Mark and get the ventilator for you. If everything goes well, I'll put it with all of the things you need in the vehicle. The first chance I get, I'll leave the hospital and take it close to where Mark and Susan live. I have the address on file."

"There's an empty space near, 'our', home." Tellion said to him. "Leave it there. I'll take care of everything after that."

Samier's face hardened. "Ok. I'll leave instructions on how to use the ventilator and bring it all to that place. Will you be able to figure out how to use it?"

"I've learned much of your alphabet and basic numerical system in the last few days. We Yeerks have an eidetic memory, I only need to be shown something once to fully understand it. I'll be able to operate the machine with simple instructions."

Samier nodded. "Alright then, I'll get everything to that place, but after that I'm going away. Far away."

"The Empire has many long range agents meant to track down runaway hosts like you Samier. You'll have to stay far away from large settlements, and never, ever attempt to make contact with anyone you know, especially your family. That's how the hunter teams lure runaways back into capture."

Samier's lips tightened and he placed a hand over his face. Tellion didn't know what she had said in her warning to upset him. But clearly she had. Tellion remained motionless as she heard a few weak sobs passed from under his breath. He lowered his hand slightly and stared at her with…Tellion didn't really know what the expression was. "Is there…any hope for them? My family?"

"No hope for them now." Tellion answered truthfully. "But maybe, in the future. The Andalite survivors are still fighting against the invasion. And eventually, hopefully, more of them may come to drive the Empire away from this world."

Samier stared at her, the strange look in his eyes trying to process what she had just told him. "Wouldn't that…wouldn't you die if that happened?"

Again, she knew little of what he actually said. But she did understand the word 'die'. Tellion released a weary breath as she stared at the floor between them. "Maybe. Most likely. But…this world you inhabit…it's so amazing. Greater and more…precious than anything I've ever experienced. If preserving the uniqueness, the wondrous grace, of this world means an end to my life, then I think that I could accept that."

Samier continued to stare at her, his face showing signs that he almost didn't dare to believe the things that Tellion was telling him. Some part of her wondered if she truly believed them herself. Tellion liked to believe that she did.

"I wish..." he said as he opened the door and began to leave. "more Yeerks were like you."

Tellion dared, for just a fleeting moment, to reach out and take Samier's hand in a gentle squeeze.

"So do I." she said to him, the conviction all too apparent in her voice. "I hope, and believe there are. We're not all the creatures of darkness that you think we are."

Samier's eyes darted down to her chest for a second, he then pointed at some things that were sitting on the nearby table.

"You should use some of that hydrogen peroxide to clean up the blood from your shirt." He said, clearly wanting to change the subject. "You'll look suspicious walking around with blood on you."

Tellion looked at what he was pointing to and nodded her head. "Ok, thank you."

"Sorry about stabbing you." Samier mumbled, looking down at his feet. "Never did that to anyone before…"

"I don't blame you for your actions." Tellion told him. "My people have hurt you more than I can ever dare to imagine."

"Get going." he said, turning his back to her. "You don't have much time."

After he said that, Samier disappeared, leaving Tellion all alone. She used the chemicals that he had pointed to and scrubbed away the red that had stained her shirt. It stung her when she used it on and around her small wound, but Tellion didn't let that stop her from cleaning herself up. The hole was still there, but it was barely noticeable. After that, she waited for some time before finally deciding to make her move. Before she left, Tellion went back to pick up the Fugue baton she had left on the floor. As much as she hated violence, Tellion didn't want to die. She needed a means to protect herself if necessary. As she collected it, Tellion glance just once at the grisly smear across the floor. It was all that remained of Callisum.

"I'm sorry." Tellion whispered, not entirely sure why she said that to a being that was already dead, and one that had been all too willing to extinguish her own life. "You left me no choice."

After those words had been said, Tellion left the room where so much had happened in such a short time. Flicking the Fugue baton the way Callisum had, Tellion collapsed the weapon into its previous compact form and tucked it into one of the pockets on the pants she was wearing.

Tellion peeked out into the hallway, making sure it was empty. Once she was sure that she was alone, Tellion followed the hallway according to Samier's instructions. It didn't take long before Tellion found herself standing in front of the metal doors to the elevator. Glancing at the small note he had left her, Tellion pressed the 'down' button and waited for the doors to open. Once they did, she darted inside and frantically pressed the B1 button. She hated it when the doors shut and felt the gravitational force against her feet as the elevator began its descent. It gave Tellion the impression of heading down into…something terrifying.

But she didn't need to guess what it was that sent fear running through her, she already knew what was troubling her.

Once the elevator reached B1, she opened the metal cover hiding the next set of buttons underneath the main ones and used Samier/Callisum's card and entered the first set of numbers he had given her. There was a moment, just a moment, when nothing happened. As her throat began to tighten, the light to the button B2 illuminated and the elevator lowered once more. When she finally reached the bottom, Tellion shut her eyes and drew in a deep breath as the doors slid open.

She exhaled, and dared to force her eyes open. What lay before her was just a simple room, not very big. But it wasn't the room itself, it was what it meant to her. Cautiously, and a bit nervously, she stepped inside. Walking through the doorway felt like so very much more too Tellion, like passing through a barrier and into another realm of existence. Because, in a way, it was for her. She knew that she should have instantly began searching for what she needed, but she couldn't help but let her eyes drift to the large structure that was fixated in the middle of the room. A native, no human, made vat of sorts. She didn't know what its original purpose was, but Tellion knew exactly what her kind had turned it into.

Swallowing hard, but still feeling as if her throat had an obstruction within it, Tellion slowly approached what had once been the mini-Yeerk Pool. The pool where she had originally been destined to die in. She reached out and gently placed her hand on its edge, and the full weight of the fate she had escaped pressed in on her, where so many others hadn't. She peeked over the edge, not knowing what she would find. All that lay within was a clean and sterilized bowl of fabricated material. There were no traces of the Yeerk Pool liquid. Or the Yeerks that had perished within.

Tellion shut her eyes once more and offered a silent moment of respect for all the Yeerks whose lives had been extinguished in what was now nothing more than a useless bowl. Who knew what the last strands of their lives had been in those final, terrifying and agonizing moments? Did anyone, Yeerk or otherwise, even know?

What had been their thoughts and beliefs? Had they lived lives as humans similar to the one she had now immersed herself in? Had they ever experienced or felt the things that Tellion had learned of in her short time in being in Susan's body? Or had they dared to create dreams beyond what was fated for them had they not been trapped by their destiny as members of the Yeerk Empire?

All of those lives, and the potential they each possessed, were gone now. And for what? Because they were enemies of the Andalites, and that was reason enough for them to die? So that the Andalites could have a desperately needed victory against her kind, and so that the Yeerks would suffer a defeat that they couldn't afford?

Did any of this…suffering really even really matter in the end? Did war, in its true essence, even care about the events that had transpired in this room? Would any of those dead Yeerks ever be remembered by anyone? Would they ever be mourned by anyone beyond this moment she was giving them?

"There's no true victors in this war…" Tellion said to no one, unable to hold back the sadness in her voice as her vision became blurred with liquid they secreted from her feelings. "Or losers. There's only…survivors."

And she was a survivor. Maybe the only one. But what did that mean to her? To this planet? Or even to the universe?

"This…" Tellion murmured to herself as she looked into the empty vat. "was where I was supposed to, where I was destined, to die. But here I am. And I don't know…what I'm supposed to make with this life. If I've defied my preordained destiny, then what is my destiny now?"

 **Whatever you chose to make of it.**

Tellion jumped at the sound of that voice. The one that had spoken in her dreams the other night. The one that had warned her about Callisum's vulnerability. Even though her eyes showed her that she was the only one in the room, Tellion felt an overwhelming force filling the small confines of the space, pressing in around her.

"Who…"

 **Save yourself first. Mourn the dead later Tellion. You don't have much time.**

Nothing else was said, yet somehow Tellion felt the presence that accompanied the voice drift away. She was alone once more. Although shaken by its sudden address to her, its words were enough to bring Tellion back to the present. It was right, she didn't have much time.

Spurred by its warning to her, Tellion left the side of the now destroyed Yeerk pool and went to the supply closet. Using Samier's card, she was able to unlock it. And Tellion's heart fluttered at the sight that was before her. There were many large shipping containers, but also dozens of metal cylinders. Tellion remembered them from the briefing. The Yeerk Pool liquid containers. She went to one and frantically twisted its top off. Tellion couldn't stop herself from releasing a joyful yelp as she stared inside, and saw the thick metallic like liquid within. Yeerk Pool liquid.

She had one of the three pieces that she needed! She could do it. She could save herself and Susan.

Unable to keep her jubilation in check, Tellion frantically began searching through the shipping containers for the mobile Kandrona Ray generator. It was only after she had gone through half of them, and found nothing of use, that her spirit began to sink. Container after container she opened, each time her hope fading just a bit more as she failed to find the generator. When she peered into the last container, and no generator lay within, Tellion's spirit felt thoroughly crushed.

"No…" she weakly croaked, dropping her head against the top of the container. "No."

She was such a fool. Of course the Yeerks had taken the Kandron Ray generator away from this place. Without a Yeerk Pool, it was useless, and there was too much danger of exposure at the moment to keep it around. The generator had likely been taken back to the main Yeerk Pool, stored away somewhere to be used at a later time. She didn't have a Kandrona Ray generator. She had nothing! She had been close so close to saving herself.

"No!" Tellion screamed, slamming the top of the container down. "No! No! NO! It can't end like this! It can't!"

Just as she screamed this, Tellion felt a very faint tremor run through her real Yeerk body. It was almost nothing noticeable, more of a mild unpleasantness than anything else. Yet, for her, it was something that was far grimmer than the physical cramp. It was a signal of her impending death.

That tremor…the very first bare beginning…

The Fugue.

It was starting. She didn't have much time left. Soon those tremors would become more frequent, and the pain from them would steadily grow. Tellion's end was coming. And it was going to be slow, and unimaginably agonizing.

"No…" Tellion wept, sliding down the edge of the container in despair. "Not like this…"

Despair sank all through her host body, and in some ways, even into her own frail one. The tears, the tears that humans shed when they felt this way, began to seep from the sides of her eyes.

The words of Lauren and Mark echoed in her mind as Tellion sat in that dark corner with her despair mounting. Yet they felt further from being any help to her than ever.

 _Don't give up. Just keep fighting._

How was she supposed to do that? How was she supposed to keep fighting when there was no hope? Where was that voice that had spoken to her? Where was anything that she needed in this moment?

"What am I supposed to do?!" she screamed out to the empty room, hoping that the voice would speak to Tellion and offer her some kind of advice. "How can I save myself?"

Silence was her answer. The grim stillness of nothing was all that was there for her. And Tellion was forced to face the harshness of it all. This was no dream. This…was the sinister reality that Tellion was facing.

She was going to die. Susan was going to die. Everything that she had done the last few days…it had all been in vain. It wasn't right.

It wasn't…

"It's not fair!" Tellion screamed in her anguished rage, kicking at the closest thing that was near her. Her foot struck a part of the storage shed that had been draped over with a blue tarp. There was a metallic rattle, and the object under the tarp fell over. Tellion's eyes widened as the blue covering fell away, and a portable Kandrona Ray generator collapsed right into her lap.

Tellion's tears ceased, and her breath was pulled from her weary lungs. She stared at it in silence, not risking to move, not even daring to blink. Tellion couldn't believe what was resting in her lap. The shock of the moment passed, and her mind returned to itself. She began to frantically go to work. She only had to glance at it once to understand why it had been left in the storage shed.

It was broken, the front end and parts of the sides smashed in. Clearly the Andalites had the sense to break the generator in addition to destroying the Yeerk Pool. It was completely useless in its current condition. There had been no point in taking a useless piece of equipment back to the Yeerk Pool, not when discretion was the most important priority to the Imperial forces at the time.

So it had been left in this place to rust away. And for good reason. In its current condition, no one could repair such extensive damage done to this machine.

Unless they were a Kandrona Ray maintenance expert.

And she, Tellion 7854, WAS a Kandrona Ray expert!

Tellion didn't hesitate as she felt the rush of much needed joy surge through her. Susan's hands were much stronger than what substituted for the ones Tallaxia had, but Tellion found trying to pry the twisted and broken parts open more difficult and awkward than she had ever done in her former host's body. The five digits were not nearly as versatile as the dozens of tentacle ends she was so accustom to, but she had little time to dwell on that.

Tellion pulled the Kandrona Ray generator apart and took a quick assessment of the damage that had been done. Yes, the Andalites had done a very job of smashing the machine. But most of the damage was superficial. Radiation wave emitters were all cracked and broken, several of the conduit connecters were severed, two of the microprocessor boards were destroyed. It was a mess. But the power core, and the radiation convertor, the two essential parts to the Kandrona Ray, they were intact. With the right replacement parts and tools, Tellion could repair the generator in a very short time.

Quickly reassembling the generator, Tellion searched through the containers again. This time, she was more thorough in what she was looking for. It only took a short time for her to find all of the necessary components and replacement parts that were needed to fix the generator. Once she had collected all of them into a smaller container, Tellion checked a back corner of the storage space that she had previously neglected in her haste. There, much to her eternal relief, she found the one and only other thing that truly mattered to her in that moment. Her kit of repair tools and computation device.

Now she had everything that she needed to save herself. She just had to get it all into the transport vehicle.

Following Samier's instructions, Tellion used the second set of numbers he had given her to open the door adjacent from the elevator she had entered from. On the other side, she found a large open space full of human vehicles. They were similar to the kind that Mark had taken her away from this dreaded place, only slightly bigger. Tellion checked one of the vehicles near the exit. The back doors were not locked, and the interior was empty. Perfect.

Slowly, and with a great deal of effort from Susan's weak body, Tellion dragged almost a dozen containers of Yeerk Pool liquid. The muscles all across her body were soon burning underneath the skin from her efforts, but Tellion pushed herself past the pain. The feeling of encroaching death was an excellent motivator for her. As she shoved the last of the liquid containers into the back, another tremor jolted through her body. Her left eye involuntarily twitched in reaction, and she quickly shook her head. It was happening faster than she dared to even dread that it would. She had to hurry.

Rushing back into the storage room, Tellion took her tools and the necessary replacement parts for the Kandrona Ray and brought them to the vehicle at nearly a dead run. She continued to move as fast as Susan's body would allow her as she wildly threw everything that she needed into the back of the vehicle. Her hectic pace only halted when she went to take the broken Kandron Ray. It was far too big for her to move by itself, but thankfully for Tellion, she knew that it could be disassembled into many different parts.

Using several hand held tools from her kit, Tellion removed screws and bolts from various places across the generator's entire frame, breaking it into six different pieces. Not only did it make it easier for her to carry to the human vehicle, it also helped to disguise what it truly was. To the untrained eye, they would just see a jumbled mass of various metal, wires, and circuitry. It would take a Kandron Ray expert to know what they were looking at. And Tellion was one of only a handful that existed in this sector of the Empire's control.

Once she had everything that she needed secured inside the vehicle, she placed the sticker under the driver side door. Just like she had been told to by Samier. With everything secure, Tellion silently retraced her path back through the destroyed mini-Yeerk pool. She stopped and looked back one last time at the destroyed Yeerk Pool, the place where she was supposed to have died. Tellion never understood why she did it, but her head bowed in one final act of mourning for all of her kin that had perished in that pool. It was the least that she could do for all of those lost lives through no true fault of their own.

When she finished, Tellion pressed the number that brought her back to the floor where she had originally embarked from. As the doors opened, Tellion dared to release a faint sign of relief. She had done everything that was within her power to get the things she needed to save herself, now it was all upon Samier's hopeful grace to her. And a lot of luck.

Another tremor struck her as she returned to the room of which she had nearly died, and had found salvation in. Tellion did her best to ignore it as she took it upon herself to clean up the grisly remains of Callisum and discard them into a nearby disposal unit. Nothing in the way of a proper disposal of a living being's remains, but it was all that Tellion could do in the moment, given her present situation.

Once Callisum's remains were cleaned up, Tellion sat in the room and waited. Which wasn't long. Before she knew it, the door opened, and both Samier and Mark entered. Seeing Mark again, the joy that he brought to her weary spirit, caused Tellion to twist her lips into a smile.

The real Samier and Mark talked to each other, about many things that Tellion was still incapable of understanding. But what she couldn't understand vocally, she was easily able to assess in Mark's facial expressions. And they were ones of relief, and joy. Once Tellion was sure that Samier had assured Mark that she was 'fine', she rose from where she had been sitting when he had left and went to his side.

When she slipped her arm around his, Samier grunted and turned his face away from them. Tellion knew that his actions were because he was thinking of his own family. She did her best to not show her own sadness at his obvious loss.

Tellion kept her face hidden as Mark and Samier exchanged a few final words before he began to lead her away. As they were exiting the room, Tellion looked back at Samier and mouthed 'thank you' to him. A single, quick nod of his head was all she was able to see before she left him. As they walked away, Tellion hoped that Samier would be able to escape. And just like she had hoped for Tallaxia, that he would one day be reunited with his family.

But she didn't have any more time to think about Samier. She had to think about herself, and Susan. As if to further press that need, Tellion felt another tremor course through her natural body. Not painful, but definitely enough to cause discomfort. It was getting worse. She didn't know how long it would be before that discomfort transformed into pain, but it wouldn't be very long.

As they left the hospital, Tellion began to formulate her next plan. She had every tool and resource that she needed, and hopefully would be able to utilize them soon if Samier did as she hoped he would. It was a tremendous risk, a traitor's gamble, entrusting her life to a being she had only recently meet, and not in any way under preferred circumstances. But hope was all Tellion truly had in that moment.

As they walked away, Tellion looked over her shoulder one last time at the building where she had found salvation and near death twice. It was a building where so much hope and joy, as well as dread and sorrow had occurred. And she hoped that she would never, ever lay eyes on it again.


	10. A Dying Memory

When they reached Mark's vehicle and he helped her inside, Tellion waited until he was walking around to the other side to reach into her pocket. The small plastic bottle rattled against the brush of her fingers. One pill per person. Samier had been very clear about that. Then she needed to use four, and hope that the effects would take hold over Mark and Susan's family quick enough to give her the time she needed to repair the Kandrona Ray and set up the Yeerk Pool.

And figure out how the 'ventilator' worked.

Tellion truly hoped that Samier was right in what he had told her about the effects of the pills. She didn't want to hurt any of them. But she needed to save herself and Susan.

As they started to head back 'home', Tellion began to work on the final phase of her plan. She had all the essential components. Now there was only one last thing that needed to be done. Tellion needed a place and a secluded tank of sorts to convert it all into a viable Yeerk Pool.

But where? Where would she be able to store all of the things she had and make it into the salvation that she needed? Without drawing any unwanted attention, especially from Mark. As she pondered those thoughts, a memory from Tellion's first night with Mark flashed in her mind.

It seemed such a silly thing to remember, but she was a Yeerk, and remembered everything that was exposed to her. And now that silly memory would prove to be her salvation.

That container locked away deep in the basement. The thing that Mark had called a 'self-depravation tank'. Tellion didn't understand the things that Mark had said it was meant for in relation to Susan's condition, only that it had been meant to help heal her. And now, ironically for Tellion, it would be used to save her life. Tellion accessed her memories of the tank. Yes, it was deep enough to lay down in, and its dimensions would be adequate for the right displacement of the Yeerk Pool liquid that Tellion would have at her disposal.

She just needed to inspect the tank before committing to using it. That wouldn't be too difficult for her, as long as there was no interference from Mark or the others. Yes, it was a very likely probability that Tellion could convert the tank into a viable Yeerk Pool. As she pondered her plans to save both herself and Susan, Tellion's concentration was broken by the feeling of physical contact on her hand.

Brought from her thoughts, she twisted her head slightly to see Mark looking at her.

"Red light." he said, gesturing ahead of them with his eyes. Tellion followed his gaze and saw one of the multitude of native mechanical traffic controllers. She had seen it the prior night when they had left the hospital the first time. The signal was red, as she had learned the name of the color from the programing presented to her over the last few days, and that meant they had to stop.

Tellion wasn't sure why Mark had pointed that to her, it seemed an insignificant thing to notice. Her answer came a moment later when she saw Mark smiling at her.

"You look really happy. I'm glad everything turned out ok."

Seeing him look at her like that made Tellion shiver. It sent those confusing feelings that were both good and bad to Tellion rushing through every portion of her weary body. Before she consciously processed her actions, Tellion was smiling back at him.

"I glad I ok." she whispered to him.

Mark's response to her words was to squeeze her hand tighter, sending more shivers up the length of her arm. She wanted him to do more than that, but the signal before them transformed to a green hue, and he had to focus his attention back to driving them home. Tellion's joyful smile of the experience lasted as long as the next Fugue tremor.

From that moment until they reached home, Tellion spent the time glaring out the window in a desperate effort to keep Mark from seeing the erratic twitches and shakes that came from the Fugue tremors. She didn't want him to worry about her, but she also knew that he believed she was still ill in some way, there was no chance that she would be able to escape his watchful eyes.

As they pulled up to the house, Tellion felt the first real bit of pain from the Fugue tremor. She didn't know how much time exactly she had, but it wasn't very long. Her only real estimate of that time frame, aside from the increasing pain, was the position of the planetary star in relation to the plant's rotation. It had been dark when she had left the hospital, so she must have been taken from the Kandrona Ray nourishment at roughly the same time frame. Checking the position of the planet's star, Tellion guessed that it would still be several hours before dark came, and her inevitable agonizing death if she didn't succeed.

She didn't know exactly when Samier would bring the essential tools for her salvation, but she could only assume that it would be after the night came. There would be less activity, less peering eyes to witness things that transpired. It also left her with a very, very narrow space of time to accomplish her tasks.

Tellion didn't know what part she dreaded more. The prospect of having to work harder, and faster, than she had ever done in her entire life to fix a shattered Kandrona Ray generator and set up a viable Yeerk Pool, in addition to figuring out how to operate the human machine that would help Susan breathe while out of her body.

Or having to endure the mounting pain of the Fugue while in the presence of Mark and Susan's family and keep them oblivious to her growing suffering.

Neither was desirable to her. But aside from physically harming, or even killing them, Tellion had no other options available to her except to endure her pain.

She did her best to suppress her fears as they returned inside the home. Susan's parents and Ellaine were right there to greet her with hugs and kisses and words she was still having trouble deciphering. Tellion was grateful for their signs of affection, and did her best to pretend that everything was alright.

Using the excuse of changing garments, she was able to escape them for a few moments into Mark and Susan's sleeping quarters. Once the door was safely closed, Tellion went about hiding the Fugue baton. The best place that she could think of would be the shelf that held Susan's garments for her more intimate area. It was a gamble, but Tellion calculated that there was only a minimal probability that Mark or the others would go searching through Susan's private clothing. Once she had the weapon safely hidden under a pile of the 'underwear', Tellion also took four of the pills from the bottle Samier had given her and hid the rest in the inside of one of Susan's shoes.

After that had been done, Tellion kept her word and changed into a different, more comfortable outfit. She remembered to tuck the four pills away in a pocket. Once she emerged from the sleeping quarters, things went as they had done for the last two days. They all ate, then Mark, Linda, and Arthur attempted to teach her more about words with the primitive viewing screen. Trying to appear interested in their efforts, while hiding the ever increasing pain from the Fugue tremors, proved to be one of the hardest endeavors of Tellion's young life.

Having to occasionally turn her head away from them to hide the involuntary twitches in her face or having to clench her hands into fists to disguise the shakes running through 'her' body became increasingly harder for Tellion. Not the least because they all were surrounding Tellion for almost every second of every minute that continued to progress on. She tried to gauge the passage of time by the various devices they had around the home in a vain attempt to give herself some kind of sense of how long she had left, but reading the primitive devices was still a bit unknown to Tellion and her thoughts continued to drift to the seemingly insurmountable task that stood before her.

All she truly had was the waning illumination as the planet's rotation carried this small portion of the world away from the star's radiant light.

As they all sat in the living area, laughing at some program that was displayed on the recreational viewing screen, Tellion had to use every last bit of her mental strength to not show any reaction to them from the painful spasm that clamped its agonizing grips around the ends of her control tendrils. She forced a smile through clenched teeth as the suffering rocked across her like a hard blow to the head. Her time was quickly running out, she needed to act.

Now!

When the pain finally subsided enough for her to focus, Tellion got to her feet and pointed at the kitchen.

"Thirsty. Lemonade." she said out loud.

Everyone stared at her in silence for a nervous moment. Then Linda got to her feet also.

"If you wanted a drink honey, you just had to say so. You don't need to shout it out to the whole house."

Linda walked past Tellion, heading for the kitchen. She began to follow after her. Linda looked over her shoulder. "It's ok honey, I can get it. You just sit back down and relax."

"I help." Tellion told her.

Not knowing what else to do, she turned to everyone else.

"Thirsty?" she asked in a desperate voice, looking right at Mark's face.

Tellion didn't know if she was giving the right expression for the situation, but Mark just smiled at her. "Some Lemonade would be great. If you want to bring me some, I'm not going to object. I've been waiting on you hand and foot the last three days, I think you at least owe me one free drink."

Tellion hardly understood what he had said to her. Arthur made a faint heavy breathing sound, the sign of suppressed laughter. Ellaine and Linda gave Mark a mutual look that Tellion could only suspect was aggravation. She didn't know if she was supposed to act upset, happy, or something else.

Linda slipped her arm around Tellion's and dragged her to the kitchen. "That's not nice, Mark."

"Is ok." Tellion assured her as she was brought into the kitchen by Susan's mother. "You all so nice...to me. I want nice too."

Linda smiled, then hugged her tightly. "Honey, you don't owe anyone anything. We're just glad you're ok."

Tellion wanted to say something, anything to Linda to give her comfort. Just in case she didn't succeed in saving the two of them. She wanted Linda's likely last night with 'her' daughter to be as joyful as possible. She never got the chance, as Linda broke the hug and pulled a large clear container of the Lemonade from the refrigerator.

Remembering where the cups were stored, Tellion made sure to retrieve five of the ones that were made of plastic and were a dark color. She needed to hide what she was about to do, no matter how uncomfortable it made her. Standing back while Linda poured the Lemonade into the five cups, she waited until Linda had filled the last one and was putting the container back into the refrigerator. Once her back was to her, Tellion immediately pulled the four pills from her pocket and dropped them into the cups, making sure to remember the coloration of the one she would use.

The pills sank to the bottom of each cup and dissolved much faster than she thought was possible. They had been diluted into the drink by the time Linda returned to get the cups. She took three, while Tellion took two. One for Mark, the one that was clean for her. They brought the cups out, and Tellion felt as if the heart in her chest was being pulled further down into her torso as she handed the sleeping pill laced cup to Mark. She sat next to him, pretending to not have a concern or show a single shred of the guilt that was coursing through her nearly as powerful as the growing pain of the Fugue.

 _I'm sorry Mark._ Tellion thought as she watched him drink from the cup. _But it's the only way to save your wife's life. I know you would understand if you knew the truth of everything._

He made what Tellion assumed was an unpleasant face. "Tastes a little funny. Does yours?"

Tellion drank from her cup and forced a smile at him. "Tastes fine."

Mark smiled back at her. "Guess it's just in my head." he said, taking another drink from the cup.

Tellion continued to fake her smile as she watched all of them drink from the cups that she had placed the sleeping pills in. She hated having to do this to these…natives, which had done nothing to her except offer Tellion acceptance, joy, and compassion. But she didn't want to die, no matter how much these, 'humans' had been kind to her. Nor did she want their precious Susan to perish with her. Despite her internal conflictions, Tellion sat back as time passed and they all continued to drink.

Samier didn't tell her how long it would be for the effects to take hold over them, but Tellion didn't need to know that. She just needed to hope that the effects would take hold before the light of the day vanished. Though she tried very hard, Tellion found it increasingly difficult to keep her thoughts focused as the pain from the Fugue continued to grow. It was no longer confined to the tips of her control tendrils. The twisting agony was now coursing all through their lengths, reaching right up to the main portion of her physical body. Every time an agonizing tremor tore through her body, Tellion's control tendrils involuntarily retracted into the core of her body, severing their control over the brain she was attached to. The lack of Kandrona nourishment was making it almost impossible to keep total control over Susan's body.

Tellion did everything that she could think of to hide the continuously growing twitches and spasms that were becoming increasingly apparent throughout Susan's body. It became so bad that she slipped her free hand under her legs as it shook violently against her control. As it did, Tellion momentarily lost all control over the body's senses. For that brief, terrifying moment, she was back to being in the natural state that all the cruel fates in the cosmos had placed up her kind. She was lost in that silent black void of what being a true Yeerk was. It lasted for what felt like an eternity, her only true sense of existence being the pain that continued to wrack her frail little body.

After that mini-millennium of senseless suffering, the pain subsided enough for Tellion to reconnect her control tendrils to the sensory parts of the brain. The very first sensation that Tellion became aware of was a gentle physical contact across her shoulder. Tellion moved her head slightly to the left, and saw Mark looking at her with a concerned face.

"You ok honey?" his words were low, Tellion sensed an effort being made by him to speak and she saw the very tops of his eyes slowly descending. "You just…weren't there for a minute."

Tellion put all of her concentration into forcing a smile at him. "I fine Mark. Thinking."

"Thinking of what?"

Tellion pulled her trembling hand from under her leg, clenching it several times to shake the twitches from it, and placed it over Mark's.

"You."

It wasn't a lie. It wasn't an attempted to change his thinking. The words that Tellion said to him, was the total truth from the core of her very being. Lost in that void of emptiness, the only thing that was able to bring her back from that endless blackness was his joyful face.

Mark's worry slowly morphed into a smile at her touch. "I always think of you. I still can't believe…you're really here with me again…"

Despite his increasingly distorted state, Mark began to lean towards her. Tellion wanted nothing more than for him to do that, and at the same time she knew that she had to keep him away. If he was against her, their full bodies contacting each other, he would surely feel the continuous spasms and twitches that Tellion was having more and more difficulty controlling. And against everything that she wanted from him in that moment, Tellion had to save herself and Susan first, no matter what else her…whatever it was within her that sought his affection and touch…desired.

"Sorry," Tellion whispered, turning her head from him. "Bathroom."

Tellion got to her feet and began walking away before Mark could say anything else. As she left the room, she scanned the family. Arthur was leaning back in the large chair, his head held back and his breathing heavy. His eyes were shut. Linda had fallen over, her head resting on the arm of the couch that she was sitting next to. Her eyes were closed as well. Ellaine's head was dipping constantly as she still sat upright in her spot, but her eyes were already half closed. Not long now, they would all be in peaceful slumber. And then, Tellion could save the one that this family all cared for.

She entered the bathroom and quietly shut the door. No sooner had she shut the door then a massive wave of the Fugue struck her, sending Tellion reeling. She grasped her head in a vain attempt to cushion her physical body as the tortuous pain spiked all through her. Tellion's cry of suffering echoed inside the small room as she stumbled over to the sink. Using what little control she still held over the jolting body, Tellion grasped the edges of the sink to keep herself from falling to the floor.

As the agony rolled all through her and inside Susan's skull cavity, Tellion hovered over the sink. Eyes shut and teeth clenched tightly, she couldn't do anything to alleviate the pain. A long strand of liquid seeped from between her shut teeth, and she had no conscious ability to control or stop it. All Tellion could do was whimper in her own personal suffering as the Fugue continued to wrack her real body. It hurt so much. She was running out of time.

After a seemingly endless space of agonizing time, the pain finally subsided enough for Tellion to collect her senses. Yet it didn't end. All of her control tendrils were not just feeling uncomfortable, they were now hurting her. And the suffering that she was enduring was getting worse. She had never gone this long without Kandrona Ray nourishment. This was…terrifying to Tellion. So terrifying.

Still struggling to breathe, she dared to look at the mirror. The face that she saw staring back at her was not the one that she had seen earlier in the morning. Skin devoid of almost all color, perspiration saturating all of its surface, a long strand of saliva drippling from the corner of the mouth. It wasn't a face full of joy and life, it was one that appeared ill. Even deathly. Susan truly appeared as Tellion was feeling in that moment.

They were dying.

"Ss…Susan…" Tellion whispered in her native Gedd/Yeerk language, no longer really caring in that moment of casting aside the veil of secrecy she had built around them.

Tellion weakly lifted her trembling hand and gently ran the edges of her finger tips across the surface of the mirror, tracing their path across the reflection where Susan's cheeks appeared. The whole endeavor should have seemed pointless and silly to Tellion. She didn't even know if Susan could really hear her. But she just wanted Susan to know what she was thinking in that moment.

"We've come so far…" Tellion said, "I…I'm not going to fail you. You're family…Mark…they need you. They're not going to lose you. Just hold on for a little while longer. I, I will save us. Your family…their family to me now too. Susan…you're my family now also. I promise that I'll save us."

Tellion pressed her fingers hard into the reflective surface, like she had done in the dream world. She hoped, in some strange and unexplainable way, that Susan could hear and feel her intentions. Tellion had to believe that was the truth. Knowing that she needed to hurry, Tellion turned from the mirror.

Her entire body froze when she saw Ellaine standing in the doorway. Her eyes were struggling to stay open and her body was resting against the door frame, but she was still very much awake.

"Suzie…" Ellaine mumbled in a low voice, as she rubbed her eyes. "I…saw you leave…you were talking to yourself…what was that…"

Tellion walked over to Ellaine and pulled her into the bathroom before she could say anything else. She looked carefully into 'her' sisters eyes.

"Ellaine," Tellion said. "What I say?"

"You were mumbling." she answered. Her words sounded weak, and not directed straight at her. "It was…weird…never heard that before."

Tellion's throat tightened at the fear and realization that Ellaine had heard her speaking in her native language. She had just put both of them in immense danger with her stupid mistake of letting her guard down.

Ellaine placed her smaller hand against Tellion's cheek. Despite her increasingly delirious state, Tellion could easily see the worry that came over Ellaine's face.

"Suzie…you're sick…"

Tellion pulled Ellaine's hand away from her face. "I fine Ellaine."

Ellaine stumbled to stay on her feet, forcing Tellion to hold her up. Even with this, the look in Ellaine's eyes didn't fade away. She looked up at her with a nearly pleading in her gaze. "Don't…lie to…me…Suzie. Mom and dad…they need…"

Tellion didn't let her say anything else. Not knowing what to do, Tellion pulled Ellaine close to her and hugged her tightly. As she did, another Fugue tremor hit all across Tellion's body. She would never know how she was able to absorb that pain without any of it showing to Ellaine, but somehow, against all the odds, Tellion was able to keep her trembling face from Ellaine's suspicious attention.

"Ellaine…" Tellion spoke into her ear with the softest voice she was able to manage. "I fine. I promise. Just tired, like you."

Her smaller body began to shake in Tellion's grip. It only took Tellion a moment to realize that she was feeling Ellaine beginning to cry. It hurt her insides knowing that she was causing that, but there was nothing else that Tellion could do in that moment for Ellaine.

"I want…to believe you." she sobbed, resting her face into Tellion's shoulder. "I lost you…I can't…Suzie…I can't lose…"

Tellion couldn't stop the liquid from filling her vision as she listened to the pain in Ellaine's words. Why did being native…human…have to hurt so much?

"I sorry I left you." Tellion said. "But…I here now. I not leave you again."

"Promise…"

"You, me, sisters." Tellion repeated the words Ellaine had spoken to her when they first met, running her hand through Ellaine's hair for reasons she couldn't explain. "I stay with you now. I promise."

Ellaine mumbled something into Tellion's shoulder just before all of the strength in her body evaporated. Tellion caught Ellaine before she fell to the floor. When her head fell back, Tellion could see that the pill had finally taken its effect on her. Ellaine was asleep, and hopefully in a happy dream. Tellion stared at her equally gentle and peaceful face, brushing aside the hair that had fallen over it. She tucked the hair behind her ears, the same way Mark had done to her.

"Sisters forever…" Tellion whispered.

Knowing that she had to hurry, Tellion carried Ellaine into the house's main room where, thankfully, everyone, even Mark, was asleep. Tellion placed Ellaine back where she had been sitting. Hopefully, she would think of everything that had happened in the bathroom as a dream.

With all of them resting in quiet slumber, Tellion put on her shoes and silently exited the building. She thought for a moment about taking one of the vehicles to the meeting point, but decided against it in her current condition. Tellion couldn't afford to take any more chances.

The light of the day was nearly gone, and for some strange reason, there was no one around. It was so odd. This place was usually far more active, even at this time. It was as if, something was shielding Tellion from the surrounding world. Tellion shivered even though she wasn't physically cold. As she continued on, Tellion felt as if she were being watched even though there was nothing and no one around her.

It was strange. Almost as strange as everything else that had happened to her in the last few days.

 _That voice._ She thought. _It must be the 'other', the one that the first voice told me about._

But if that was true, then why would that force help her? Of what significance could she be to it, or either of them?

Your life is a wager, and very small one, between us.

Tellion shook her head. No. She couldn't think of these things. She didn't have time!

Feeling as if her very life were draining from her, Tellion hurried along to the meeting place. When she rounded a block, and saw the van parked next to the open space, Tellion's heart began to race. He had kept his word. Samier had kept his word!

Tellion couldn't hide the joy on her face as she rushed towards the van. Her joy only increased to nearly silly levels when the driver side door opened and Samier stepped out.

"Thank you!" Tellion cried, almost throwing herself at him as she hugged him tightly.

"You're…welcome…" he said in an unsure voice, not returning the gesture.

Tellion quickly collected herself and pulled away.

"I was about to leave." Samier said. "I was going to make notes for using the ventilator. But with you here. I'll show you how the machine works."

Tellion knew enough words to understand that he was going to teach her himself on how to use the breathing machine.

"Thank you, Samier." Tellion said to him. "For your kindness, and understanding."

Samier nodded his head and opened the back of the van. He pulled out the machine out and showed it to her. Yes, that was the same one that she remembered. Tellion's excitement was so great that she almost couldn't keep her body still as Samier took her over the process of how the machine worked and the steps that she needed to take to ensured it worked properly. He was also very clear to her that it needed to be plugged into a very reliable power source.

As Tellion began to assure him that she understood what he was telling her the Fugue struck her again. This time, the pain brought Tellion to her knees as she grasped her head so tight that she thought that she would crush her skull in. The harsh grasp of the stinging through the exterior of her body caused Tellion to lose all power in her control tendrils again. Except this time they retracted into her body against her will. In the next instant, Tellion felt the fear of becoming deaf and blind to the world around her. Another span of seemingly endless time passed that she was forced to know nothing except the pain. When it finally, and with perhaps a bit of mercy, passed, Tellion forced her control tendrils from her body, reconnecting them back to Susan's brain and willed her eyes to open. They were all hurting so much now that it was getting harder for her to effectively reconnect the tendrils where they needed to go. Things were a jumbled and confusing mess for a few terrifying seconds before Tellion regained control over the senses.

She was laying on the grass, Samier huddled over her.

"…are you alright?" he asked, for who know how many times before that.

"No." Tellion said weakly, sitting up. "I'm…I'm dying…not much time left…"

"Can I help?"

Tellion cautiously sat up and looked at him. "No. If this doesn't work, I don't want you to suffer anymore because of me."

"But I can at least…"

Tellion shook her head. "No, Samier! You've done more than enough. You wouldn't even begin to understand how to help me with the generator or setting up a stable Yeerk Pool. You would do more harm than good. Go."

He hesitated to leave. The conflict was easy to read upon his face, even for Tellion. Knowing what she had to do, Tellion gently pushed him away from her. "Samier, you don't have much time either. The moment they realize you are free, the hunter squads will come after you. You have to get as far away as you can before that happens."

"They're not going to take me again." he said in a very low voice. He pulled something from the pocket of his pants. Tellion only saw it for a moment. It vaguely reminded her of a Dracon blaster. It must have been a human weapon. Primitive, but no doubt still very effective.

"Go Samier." Tellion pleaded with him. "I will be alright."

He turned to go, but stopped for what would likely be the last time they spoke. "Thank you for freeing me."

"Your family will be free someday too." Tellion told him, not hiding the emotion in her voice. "They'll know that you escaped, and it'll give them hope. You just have to keep fighting, and I believe you'll be with them again."

"I…I want to believe you." Samier said as he began to walk away.

"So do I, Samier. So do I." Tellion whispered as she watched him leave.

After he was gone, Tellion jumped into action. She hurriedly took the ventilator, the Kandrona Ray generator, and everything else from the back of the van. Tellion found a dark, well-hidden spot in the open space between the human houses. Once she had everything collected, she threw some broken and decayed vegetation over it to temporarily conceal it all. When she was sure that it was hidden enough, Tellion climbed into the driver's seat of the van.

She didn't want to piolet the vehicle, but it was a far greater risk to her to just leave it where it was. Drawing on her memories of when Mark had driven her away from the hospital, Tellion mapped out a route to the nearest and best place that she could think that would conceal the vehicle until she could figure out a more permanent solution to dispose of it.

Going from those same memories, Tellion turned the ignition key and worked the stick that put the vehicle into its proper gear shift to make it drive. Her foresight to study Mark driving was proving to be very smart indeed. But she didn't waste a moment to dwell on that understanding. She had to move.

Gently pressing the moving peddle, Tellion gripped the wheel tightly as the machine began to roll forward. Tellion's eyes wildly kept looking in all of the reflective side mirrors and at the pavement ahead of her. She had to be absolutely careful in this critical moment. If she hit anything, or anyone, then she was dead. And so was Susan. Block after block she went, it felt like an endless loop even though Tellion was mentally mapping out the distance and directions. She finally came to the place where she needed to hide the vehicle. It was a ramp that lead to the elevated road, the 'interstate', as Mark had called it. The place was sparsely populated, and she didn't see any signs of human life anywhere near the place. Driving the van over the small barrier at the edge of the road, Tellion pulled the vehicle under the ramp near the support pillars.

The place wasn't ideal, but it was secluded enough to keep the vehicle hidden from the street and if the imperial forces deployed any human aircraft the density of the structure should shield the vehicle from the scanners they would use. At least that's what Tellion hoped. When she successfully parked the van, Tellion turned the engine off and exited the vehicle. As her feet touched the ground, the Fugue struck her again. Unable to withstand the pain, Tellion's anguished cry echoed throughout the area and she collapsed to the dirty ground.

Pain was all she knew in that torturous and nearly endless expanse of time. But even as she writhed in the dirt, things began to flash through her mind. She heard words, but not with her ears. They drifted into her thoughts, from somewhere else.

…this will not be pleasant. You will not enjoy any of this…

…I'm glad so see you suffering. You deserve every moment of this Yeerk…

…You may soon regret those words…

Tellion came back to her reality. Or was any of it even real? It was…getting harder for her to concentrate. It was in this moment that the true terror of the Fugue took hold over her, because now it was no longer just the pain. She was starting to lose her grip on her mental capacities. She was starting to lose her sanity.

So little time left…

Tellion didn't know how she would be able to find the strength to even pick herself up off of the ground. Which was nothing to say of making her way back to Mark and Susan's home and doing everything else that needed to be done. Maybe she should just…lay where she was for a while longer. Just a little while longer.

As another wave of the pain of the Fugue struck her, Tellion's mind momentarily lapsed into nothingness. When she came to her senses again, she was rising from the ground, though not from her own actions. Some…force…was lifting Tellion to her feet. She couldn't see anything near her. There was nothing around her. And yet, she was standing on her unsteady legs before she truly understood what had happened.

Her mouth dropped to say something, to call out to whoever, or whatever, it was that had caused this. Or maybe nothing had happened. Maybe she had just somehow gotten back up and didn't realize it. Reality was starting to slip from her understanding. As she thought this, Tellion felt the force again, this time pushing her back in the direction she had come. Tellion didn't question it this time. She just walked away from the van, her thoughts an ever confusing mess.

Tellion didn't know how long it took her to get back to the open space, it truly only felt like she had taken a few paces and then she was suddenly there. Everything was hurting. Her whole body now, and it wasn't subsiding in anyway. Nothing was spared from the agony of the Fugue. Tellion did her best to focus and stumbled over to where she had hidden everything. She grabbed the Kandrona Ray generator pieces and her tools first, and made her way back to 'her' home.

Everyone was still in deep slumber when she returned, much to Tellion's needed relief. She moved past them and went into the basement. She went over to the wooden slab that was built into the wall and pushed everything on there off in great haste. After she had put everything she had carried on its surface, Tellion went and plugged in the deprivation tank. Her legs began to give out from under her as she headed back up the stairs.

"Focus dammit!" she screamed to herself as she practically pulled her body up the stairs.

She hurried out of the home and back to the open space. Next she got the ventilator and brought it into the basement. Tellion plugged it into the power source on the wall and worked the machine the way Samier had shown her. When she was sure that everything was set up, Tellion dragged it to the edge of tank. As she placed it near where her head would rest, another spike of Fugue pain stabbed into the core of Tellion's body.

Tellion collapsed against the side of the tank and fell to the floor. Her screams resonated all through the very foundation of the building. She instinctively grasped 'her' head, the nails on her fingers digging into the flesh of her skull as she tried in desperation to rip open her skull and free herself from this never ending agony. Her legs flailed about wildly, completely devoid of any trace of control.

"It hurts! It hurts. It hurts so much…" she whimpered through her tear saturated eyes as she cradled her pounding skull in trembling hands.

As she writhed in the agony, words echoed through her diminishing mind.

 _…it hurts._ A voice whimpered in just as much pain and fear as she had. _It hurts so much…_

 _…yes._ The other, equally weary voice said with a hint of sadness in it. _I bet it does…_

Tellion's eyes shot open as she regained much weaker control over Susan's brain once more. Grunting through clenched teeth, she somehow found the will to fight through the pain and pull herself back up.

"You're not going to die." Tellion hissed. "Not here. Not now!"

Back on her feet again, she stumbled out the home and back to the open space. Tellion grasped two of the containers of Yeerk Pool liquid. Somehow, she would probably never really know, Tellion managed to find the strength to drag both of those heavy containers back to the basement. She didn't know if two would be enough, but she was out of time. She had to fix the Kandrona Ray generator. Now!

Moving with a combination of pure desperation and desire to live, Tellion opened both containers and dumbed the heavy metallic colored liquid into the tank. When she had finished, Tellion saw that it had barely filled half the tank. There was no time to check the density and PH balance. It would have to do for now. It had to.

With trembling hands and a vision that kept shifting into and out of focus, Tellion adjusted the dials on the side of the tank to bring the Yeerk Pool liquid to the adequate temperature for maximum Kandrona Ray absorption. Once that task was finished, Tellion kicked both of the containers under the wooden bench and threw a blue colored tarp over them.

Pulling up a simple wooden chair to the bench, Tellion placed protective eye covers over her face and laid out the broken Kandrona Ray pieces, her tools, and the replacement parts. When it was all put before her, Tellion frantically went to work. She was so unused to using her tools with these kind of hands, but her desperation drove Tellion on with a near frenzied pace. She cut and soldered wires, replaced smashed and cracked microprocessors, reattached power conduits and half a dozen other tasks faster than she had ever done in her entire life. She connected her computation device to the power core of the generator, her human finger rapidly typing in power processing protocols and narrowing the radiation yield to a much smaller body of liquid for maximum saturation for the Kandrona Rays.

But even as she worked so fast, her mind continued to slip away as the pain became more and more of her entire existence. Twice in her repair efforts Tellion collapsed to the floor and writhed around in the agony of the Fugue. Only knowledge that she was so very close to saving both herself and Susan gave Tellion the will to fight through the suffering and back to work. Even as she struggled to remember how to fix the Kandrona Ray, the world around her continued to slip away. More words passed through her mind than she was ever able to process. And in the jumbled mess, she kept hearing those two voices.

One of them was Temrash 114. Tellion didn't truly know how she understood that, but she was certain of it. Somehow, as her own life force began to fade away…she was hearing his cries of agonizing death. Cries that were mirroring her own. The other, must be the Andalite he had infested. She almost wanted to be happy that the Andalite would soon be free. But she wasn't. Even as twisted and sinister as Temrash had shown himself to be to her, Tellion couldn't help but feel pity for her former commander. Because she was suffering the same as he was. Only he didn't have a hope of survival like her. He was enduring all of that suffering…knowing that he was soon going to die.

It was all so terrifying for her, but…she was sure it was far more for him.

But there was nothing that she could do for him. Temrash's fate was sealed. She had to worry about herself. She had to save Susan.

Reality blurred all around Tellion as she made the final repairs of the Kandrona Ray generator and reassembled it. Dragging her shaking body over to the tank, Tellion activate the generator, and prayed to something, anything really, that it would work.

As the electric hum of the means for her salvation came to life. Tellion would have leapt for joy in that moment, but another wave of the Fugue struck her. The pain and suffering that she had to endure nearly drove her to the point of madness. All of known reality was slipping away from her, and she almost welcomed it, as long as it meant an end to this indescribable suffering. She almost didn't want to reconnect her control tendrils to the brain, doing so felt to her as if placing each of those thousands of ends in scolding liquid. It was only through sheer force of will, and her desire to save Susan, that Tellion was able to push herself through the wall of torture and regain control over her host's body. Even as her eyes opened, Tellion wasn't even sure if she was even alive as the world spun wildly around her.

So little time left. So little…

Tellion was only in the dimmest sense aware that she was ripping off the clothing that she was wearing as she almost dragged herself across the floor towards her own personal Yeerk pool. Summoning a strength that she didn't even know that she was capable of, Tellion reached up and grasped the edge of the deprivation tank and pulled herself up with an arm almost devoid of any power. Tellion fell over the edge and into the liquid, not even feeling its density pressing around Susan's bare body. As her vision faded in and out of darkness, Tellion wildly grasped out and took hold of the tube to the ventilator and pulled it towards her. Disconnecting all of her control over the body's mouth and breathing portions of the brain, Tellion rammed the clear tube down Susan's throat. As her vision faded away in the blinding pain, Tellion flicked a switch, the one that she hoped that would turn on the machine. After that…

The pain faded. But so did reality around her. It all vanished. And she went somewhere else.

Impossible as it should have been, Tellion opened her 'eyes', and found herself standing on a swirling, indecipherable plane of existence. She wasn't a Yeerk, as she rightfully should have been. Instead, she was standing in this vortex of almost confusing nothingness as Susan's body. But Tellion didn't have any sense to dwell on where she truly was, or if any of it was even real. Because amidst all of that howling madness that surrounded her, Tellion heard something within that screaming air.

Crying.

Sad, pitiful, crying.

She followed the echoes of suffering through the storm of nearly emptiness. As the cries grew louder, Tellion spotted a shadowy shape through the blackness. Moving closer to the trembling figure, the form became clearer to Tellion.

"Temrash." Tellion whispered.

His head lifted at the sound of her voice, and his face turned to her. Tellion could never explain this situation, but he appeared to her as she remembered him in his former host. The younger human named 'Tom'. And, much to Tellion's infinite sadness, she could see his tear saturated face. It was not the face of a vicious killer and ruthless commander. It was the face of a horrified victim of unknown fear.

"Who…"

Tellion moved closer to him.

"It's me, Temrash."

His eyes widened. "Tellion. How?"

"It doesn't matter now."

His next words were simple, and to the awful point of what was facing both of them.

"I'm dying?"

"Yes." Tellion answered, "So am I."

"Tellion…" he said, unable, or even attempt to disguise the fear in his voice. "I'm…scared…I'm so terrified…"

Despite not knowing him, despite hearing all of the horrific things he had done…Tellion moved closer to Temrash and pulled him to his feet. She pulled her arms around him and held him tightly.

"I'm here for you Temrash." she said. "You're not alone."

In that next instant, her consciousness moved out from her own body, and Tellion saw the two of them continuously shifting from their host bodies and into their natural Yeerk bodies. Their human like hug fluctuated into a pair of Yeerks touching their palps together, back and forth. This was madness, it was pure insanity. And yet, all she could think of anything else in that moment was being there for Temrash in his, their, final moments of life.

"I…I didn't want it to end like this…" he said, true sadness echoing in his words.

"Neither did I." Tellion told him.

As they stood there, shifting in between human and Yeerk forms, memories flooded into Tellion's mind. Memories she had never lived, yet was now sharing them as if they were her own. They were visions of Temrash's experiences in his last, and primary host, whose name was Tom.

Joyful memories of a mother's hug, a father's approving smile, a girl kissing him for the first time. But among them all, one that stood out.

Temrash was outside of a home similar to the one that she had found shelter in. He was playing some kind of game with a younger human, and was easily beating him at it.

"Remember our deal." Temrash told him. "I beat you. You come to one of the Sharing meetings with me."

"You haven't won yet." The sibling countered, breathing heavily. This only made Temrash smirk.

 _No._ The voice of Tom echoed in the back corner of his mind. _Please don't do this. We had a deal._

 _I don't make deals with my slave!_ Temrash snapped at him. _Now watch while I finish this. I guess I should thank you, since you were so good at this game._

 _No. No!_ Tom cried.

Temrash ignored the pleas of his host, finally stopped toying with Tom's sibling. Easily pushing past him, Temrash jumped into the air and threw the sphere into a nearly equally sized horizontal metal ring. As the sphere went through, Tom's sibling dipped his head in defeat.

 _No…_ Tom's weak voice cried out.

"That's game." Temrash said, tossing the sphere back to his host's younger brother, who said something under his breath as his head remained dipped. "I win."

Tom's sibling looked up at him. Tellion wasn't able to understand what the look on his face meant. Maybe sadness. Maybe dejection. Maybe even a bit of joy.

"Well," he said to Temrash as he struggled to catch his breath. "We had a deal. I guess I'll go to that Sharing meeting with you tonight."

 _Please don't do this._ Tom begged Temrash. _He's just a kid. He doesn't know anything. He's no use to you. Please…_

Temrash looked at that young boy's face, the admiration and affection he showed to him. Tellion watched in complete fear at what she knew was to come. The horrific fate that would soon befall that seemingly helpless child.

Temrash smirked at him. "You know what…don't worry about it."

The sibling looked just as surprised as Temrash felt in that moment. "Really? But we had a deal."

"It wasn't a fair bet." Temrash said, walking towards him. "I knew you never had a chance of beating me. I may not be on the team anymore, but I'm still damn good at this game."

"Thanks Tom." he said, looking down at his feet. "To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to go."

"I know midget." Temrash said, grabbing him. He chuckled under his breath as he rubbed his knuckles into the sibling's head. "You and Marco had plans tonight anyway right?"

"Yeah." he growled, fighting to free himself from Temrash's grasp. "And stop calling me midget!"

"I'll stop when you actually manage to get bigger." Temrash teased him.

As Temrash and Tom's sibling struggled almost playfully against each other, they laughed. They both laughed. Tellion saw it clearly as anything she had ever in her entire life. Temrash was smiling.

It wasn't the arrogant smirk he had given towards Visser Three. It wasn't the sadistic showing of teeth he had given to his subordinates and her. He wasn't pretending. His actions, his feelings…were genuine.

Temrash gently pushed him away. "Now get going before I change my mind and drag you to that meeting just to torture you. And don't let mom hear you say what you said when I beat you, if she finds out you learned it from me, that's both of our asses."

"Sure thing Tom." he said, running back into the house.

They watched him leave. Neither Tom, nor his Yeerk oppressor Temrash fully understanding what had just happened.

 _You…_ Tom said in disbelief. _You didn't…thank you…thank you…_

"Shut up." Temrash warned his slave.

 _Why did you?_ Tom asked.

"Sometimes," Temrash said, turning his back to the home he had live in for so very long. "I envy the life you've had Tom."

 _So._ Temrash said with a bit of confusion as he started to leave. _That is what being a big brother feels like…_

And in that bewildering, and equally terrifying moment, the truth was reviled to Tellion.

"You lied." Tellion said in disbelief. "You lied to everyone. Your subordinates. To Visser Three. You even lied to yourself."

Tellion's eyes widened at the full understanding.

"You didn't enslave Tom's family to prove yourself to Visser Three. You did it…because you cared for them."

His weak sobs into her shoulder only confirmed Tellion's statement. "I didn't care for them at first. As a Gedd, I had dreary and disgusting tasks. As a Hork-Bajir soldier, all I did was fight and kill. When I was reassigned to this new host, I had to do something different than the other infestors. Something that would make me stand out among them and give me a better chance for advancement. I didn't infest my new host's family, like protocol demanded. I found the challenge very enjoyable. But as time dragged on, and my rank rose, there became less and less reason for me to not have them infested. But I kept making excuses, I kept coming up with reasons to not enslave them. I don't know when my interactions with them…changed, but at some point they did. Me. The great Temrash. Visser Three's most loyal and trusted officer…brought to this by these…humans…insanity."

"It's not insane." Tellion said.

"How could you ever understand Tellion?"

"I understand better than any Yeerk alive." Tellion told him. "You and me…before this world…before these lives…we were just soldiers. Doing our duty, following orders, enslaving helpless beings, not knowing anything else."

"I never knew kindness. Affection. Happiness." Temrash said through his sobs.

"You were never part of a family." Tellion answered for him. "And then you were. You didn't know…how to be anything like that."

"I tried so hard to not let it affect me. To let their, love, move me." Temrash said. "But it did. I didn't want that life to ever end. I almost didn't want to take Visser Three's promotion when it was given to me. Because I knew that this life would end."

"Temrash…"  
"I've killed so many beings, Tellion. Yeerk and non-Yeerk. I've tortured and mutilated so many, some because I was ordered to, others simply because I enjoyed crushing out their lives. I never really understood, until now on the verge of my own death, how much terror I had inflicted upon others. There's so much evil and pain I've caused in my life. Tellion, how can there…ever be forgiveness for what I've done?"

Tellion pulled his head into her shoulder, holding him the way Linda had for her.

"Temrash…" Tellion whispered into his ear. "I…forgive you."

His weary sigh was so painful to her, yet held a strange trace of relief in it, as if she were taking on the burden of his evil actions. "Tellion, why? You don't know me. When we first met, I tried to humiliate and terrify you. Why would you…"

She hugged him tighter. "Because…someone needed to…"

As she stood there, hugging him as close as she would have Mark, Tellion felt Temrash do something. A part of himself separated and pulled away. She physically couldn't feel it, but still Tellion knew what Temrash had done.

That memory. The one shared with Tom's sibling whom she did not know that name to. The one where Temrash had shown mercy upon that child. It was sent back to the brain of the host he was still clinging on to with the last traces of his life. It would be the very last thing that his host would ever see, and feel from Temrash's memories. It would be Temrash's dying memory to him.

"Why did you do that? Why that memory?" Tellion asked, not sure what that memory would mean to an Andalite warrior.

"I…wanted him…to know that…all of the good memories in my life…were from that family…"

Temrash laughed softly into Tellion's ear.

"I still can't believe it would end like this. To think, the midget, all of this time…and he was…"

The swirling vortex and wind that had been whipping all around suddenly came roaring at the two of them. It slammed into Tellion with a force unlike anything she could comprehend. Suddenly she was spiraling head over feet wildly through empty air. There was no sense of anything for Tellion in those scary moments as she flipped about over and over. The only thing that she knew for certain was that she was falling. Falling into…she didn't know what. But she did know that it was horrific.

As she plummeted into that horrifying unknown, Tellion heard Temrash's screams nearby. She saw him tumbling in an equally wild fall, his now frail looking body tossed about like a child's plaything.

"Temrash!" she cried to him, reaching out her hand for him.

Temrash's terrified face filled her vision, and he wildly grasped out for her. Somehow, he managed to clamp his hand over hers and held on for his very essence of being as they spun about in the overwhelming force.

"Tellion!" Temrash screamed in pure terror as the force consumed them both, spinning them wildly, and the sheer force of it trying to pull them apart. "Please, please, don't let go!"

"Hold on! Hold on to me Temrash!" she cried, even as she felt his grip slipping as they both continued to fall. The darkness around them was transforming, changed into a rapidly reddening hue. And the wind…was morphing into lashing tongues of burning flames that struck out at them.

"I don't want to die!" he cried out as the fire began to snap out and consume both of them. "Please Tellion, don't let me go! Don't let go!"

She tried so hard to. More than Tellion ever thought she ever could. Yet, his grip was wretched from hers. And in that one last instant, she saw Temrash's terrified eyes as he transformed into the small and feeble Yeerk he naturally was.

"Ttteeellllllliiiooonnn…" echoed Temrash's final, agonizing plea to her as Tellion watched in horror while his body disintegrated and was literally blown away like dust before her eyes.

"Temrash!" Tellion cried out, wildly grasping for him in vain.

And as he vanished into that nothingness…Tellion saw something amidst that blazing inferno that was now beginning to consume her. A gaze…a powerful force…a pressing darkness beyond anything her feeble mind could comprehend…

…a great red eye astride a colossal throne peering at her with all its overwhelming cruelty and malic.

In that instant, Tellion knew a fear, a soul gripping terror beyond anything the physical world could possibly understand, or dare to even try.

Then she impacted into a non-solid surface, and the eye, the fire, it all vanished. And the next thing Tellion was aware of was that she was sinking. At first, she believed that she was drowning. But when she tried to move her arms, she felt none to respond to her command. Nor did she have any lungs to breathe, or eyes to see. She was in her natural Yeerk form again. And was sinking. Only she didn't care, because her withered and nearly starved body felt it. All across her slimy skin, into the core of her form, and down into the entire lengths of her control Tendrils.

Kandrona. Sweet. Nourishing. Reviving.

She had absorbed it all her life, and yet she had never believed that it could feel as satisfying as it did in that moment.

 _Am I dead?_ Tellion asked herself, almost not believing any of this was real.

 **No. You live.** Cooed that voice that had been speaking to her throughout the day.

Temrash…

 **He is dead. And you live Tellion.** The voice said to her. The voice that every part of her entire being screamed warnings to her despite its comforting tone. **Heal. You still have much to do in this new life you've been granted.**

Nothing else was said to her from that voice after that. Tellion didn't swim in the Yeerk Pool liquid. She just lay at the bottom of the tank, letting her ravished and weary body saturate in the revitalizing touch of the Kandrona rays. Her mind a bewildered and jumbled mess of so many thoughts, so many emotions, so many fears.

When some time had passed. How long she would never truly know, Tellion felt her body revitalized enough by the Kandrona rays to become herself once again. She swam back to the ear canal of Susan's still body. With one final hope of success, she reentered the ear and worked her way back to the brain.

Revitalized once again, Tellion reattached herself to Susan's brain and opened her eyes. Against all the impossible odds, she felt Susan's heart faintly beating within her chest. She had done it. She had saved them both. Tellion pulled the ventilator tube from her throat and turned off the machine. Weakly pulling herself from the tank, Tellion slid to the floor until her bare bottom was resting on the cold surface.

She should have felt jubilation. She should have felt thrilled that she had saved both herself and Susan. And yet…all she could think of was Temrash's terrified face the moment before he was blown away into oblivion. That face. Those eyes. His anguished cry…would forever be etched into her mind.

And that eye…the great red eye…

And as she sat there, thinking of her final moments with Temrash, and that horrific eye, Tellion buried her face into her trembling hands and began to weep.

(Well, I hope that is a satisfactory answer to the question of how Tellion would be able to survive outside the main Yeerk Pool. There's a reason why I mentioned from the very first chapter that she is a Kandrona Ray/Yeerk Pool maintenance specialist.)


	11. A Moment Stolen

There was darkness. The terrifying, life consuming emptiness of complete nothingness. Tellion's eyes remained closed. There was no point in keeping them open when there was no difference in her current state of existence. Tellion was laying upon her back in the water, Susan's hair flowing about in the liquid, tickling their thin ends across her shoulders and face. Tellion had nothing to do in that moment other than just lay there, and try her very best to not let the terror of the unknown consume her. Every beat of Susan's heart left like a hundred years passing. Each moment Tellion laid in complete fear.

She dreaded this state. It reminded her of that horrific instant, just before she had fallen into the nourishing pool of Kandrona soaked Yeerk Pool liquid. The moment when she had witnessed Temrash's final embers of life extinguished, and saw the eye. That almost galactic in scale orb that poured forth more malice and terror into her very existence in that single instant than every instance of fear of throughout Tellion's entire life of being in the Yeerk Empire.

Tellion endured this agonizing state for as long as she was able to last, but finally she was unable to keep herself suffering through the torture. Tellion sat up abruptly and pushed the lid open. The very first thing she saw once the darkness vanished was Mark's bright and comforting face.

"Back to the world?" he said, his lips pulling into a comforting smile.

Tellion couldn't help but let her own lips morph into an equally gentle smile as she pulled herself up from the tank. His smile always brought a sense of peace, and warmth to her nearly shattered conscious. As she climbed out of the tank, Mark handed her a towel, which Tellion gladly accepted and used to dry off her face and hair.

"Feeling better?" Mark asked her.

"Feeling better." Tellion repeated his words, which only seemed to make Mark's smile grow brighter.

Of course, the liquid in the tank was just plain water, so Mark was completely oblivious to Tellion's true purpose of the tank's use. After she had saved both herself and Susan a few days ago, Tellion had drained the Yeerk Pool liquid from the tank back into their containers. Despite her best efforts, she had lost a few milliliters due to various reasons. But not enough for her to be concerned. After she had disassembled the Kandrona Ray generator and the ventilator and hid their various parts in the basement, Tellion had dressed herself and went back to the couch where Mark and the others continued to rest. She couldn't remember much of what had happened in the moments after. The last clear memory that Tellion had was of waking from a terrifying dream with Mark encasing his arms around her and her head resting against his chest.

It felt like it had happened so long ago, yet only a few days had passed. Tellion couldn't ever forget the way he had looked at her in that moment, nor how it made her feel…

Tellion finished drying off the rest of the water from 'her' body. Linda had found a garment called a 'swimsuit' for her when Tellion had expressed her desire to use the deprivation tank. It was a strange material, but so was most of human garments to her. It was very tight fitting, pressing in around her thin frame. Whatever it was made of, the fabric was clearly suited for getting wet, because it seemed to have most of its liquid absorption taken away went Tellion wiped the towel over its surface.

Once she was sufficiently dried, Tellion forced a smile at Mark before closing the lid to the tank. As much as Tellion despised the deception she had to pull on him and the rest of Susan's family, Tellion knew that she needed an excuse to be able to use the tank without drawing suspicion from any of them. So she had told Mark the other day that she wanted to try the tank to 'mediate' as he had called it. Mark and the others had seemed more than happy to let her use it. She had sat back, pretending to be ignorant of their preparations of the tank, until everything was ready.

When she had used it the first time, Tellion dreaded the darkness that had encompassed her when the lid had closed. It was only through her complete force of will that had prevented her from pushing the lid open and screaming in terror as all of the horrific memories of her near death experience came surging back into her conscious thoughts. Temerash's terrified screams, the absolute fear in his eyes just before he died, and that all-consuming horrific gaze of that diabolic red eye that shrouded all of her known existence.

She had thought that, after that first time, facing the darkness would get easier. It hadn't. This second time had all but proven that to her.

It had taken all of her mental strength to not reveal to Mark her trembling from the fright of having to relive that experience. Once it was all done, Tellion let Mark put his arm around her and lead her upstairs.

"You like it?" he asked, referencing the deprivation tank. "Does it help?"

"It helps." Tellion answered him honestly, though not clearly stating how it specifically to him how it helped her. She searched for the right words to say to Mark. "Makes me feel…better."

"I'm glad it does." he said, helping her to the top of the stairs.

Tellion glanced back one last time at the salvation that she had created for herself. She didn't think any more of it as Mark handed her over to Linda. Linda took her back to the bedroom and laid out a change of clothes for her. Tellion changed out of her swimsuit and into the normal set of clothes that she had been wearing that day. Once properly dressed, she went downstairs and interacted with the rest of the family. It was a routine that she was readily becoming comfortably encased in, despite the guilt that Tellion couldn't shake from her conscious of knowing that she wasn't really who all these people thought she was.

As the family sat around the T.V. talking among themselves, Tellion glanced from the edge of her vision at Ellaine. Despite her initial fears, Susan's sibling didn't seem to display any emotions or suspicions to Tellion. She didn't seem to show any memory of what had transpired between them the night that Tellion had almost died. Tellion was sure that she remembered something from that night, but her actions only seemed to indicate to Tellion that Ellaine only saw what had transpired as a vague memory of a dream. At least, that's what Tellion hoped.

Knowing that she soon needed Kandrona nourishment, and that she needed to collect the remainder of the Yeerk Pool liquid she had hidden nearby, Tellion thought of the sleeping pills. She hated to use them again on Mark and the others, but she didn't see any alternative that would allow her to have the freedom to go and collect the rest of the Yeerk Pool liquid she had left near the house. The family would have to be drugged once again.

But she would have to time her use of them accordingly. If a noticeable pattern developed, then Mark and the others would likely figure out that something was wrong with their unexplainable sleeping patterns every three days. And she only had a limited number of them.

Which was why she had asked Mark to let her use the deprivation tank. It gave Tellion the needed cover for using it without having to draw any suspicion upon her use of it. She was just going to have to figure out a way to keep all of them from prying into what she was doing. Filling and draining the tank with Yeerk Pool liquid alone would likely be a time consuming task. Not to mention the assembling of both the Kandrona Ray and the Ventilator, much less their disassembly and hiding their various parts. But Tellion had already pulled herself through one impossible situation. If she could do that once, then surely she would be able to find a solution to her current problem.

"Everything ok honey?"

Tellion turned her gaze from the T.V. to Linda. She had a questioning look on her face.

"You were staring off."

"I was thinking…" Tellion answered. "How happy I am here. Don't feel like it is real."

Mark took her hand in his, sending those pleasant tingles rolling up the full length of her arm. "You being here is just as real as anything."

Tellion smiled at him, squeezing his hand back softly.

What he said, and her response to him, seemed to put Linda at ease. She didn't say anything else in regards to how Tellion behaved. The rest of the day progressed along as it had done for the last several. Watching the viewing programs that were called 'shows' and being taught more words and sentences by Linda and Ellaine. Arthur would offer what help he could, but he didn't really seem to know what to say or what to do in regards to her situation. Tellion began to wonder if this was a common thing among human males with their daughters. He certainly seemed to behave in a similar way to Ellaine.

When Linda announced that she was getting ready to make dinner, she pointed at Tellion. "Susan, honey, you need to go clean yourself up before coming to the table. Sitting in that water…it's not clean."

"I feel fine." Tellion protested, not really sure why Linda would think laying in water would be unsanitary.

"No buts about it." Linda responded in a firm voice, motioning upstairs towards her sleeping quarters. "Go run a shower and dinner will be ready by the time you come back down."

Tellion knew better than to argue with Linda. Every action that she took in this home needed to be done without drawing any unnecessary attention to herself and how she behaved. Not willing to do anything to draw further suspicion on her, Tellion went to the bedroom on the second floor.

Tellion made sure to shut the door before removing her garments. She had to admit, the concept of clothing still felt very odd to her. But humans didn't seem to like the idea of walking around without them, so she had to force her though process to adapt to living this way. And, for many reasons that she still couldn't explain, the idea of Mark seeing her unclothed felt…odd.

Once removed of her clothing, Tellion went into the wash area and turned on the water for the shower. With Linda having already shown her how to adjust the knobs to get the acceptable temperature levels of warmth that felt right for Susan's body, Tellion cautiously placed her hand under the running water to assure her that it was comfortable temperatures.

The heat was just the right balance for what she felt Susan's body could tolerate. Tellion was a little hesitant to step inside, but she forced herself to enter the shower. When she pulled the thin plastic barrier across the showering station, Tellion turned the lever to activate the shower. She shuddered when the hail of warm water splashed across not only her face, but the rest of her body. This…experience of cleaning herself…was so much more pleasant than any of the times she had to clean herself off as a Gedd, or even the few times she had been required to in Tallaxia. The water had always been cold and shot out in harsh jets, and she had only been rationed one minute of water use to soak, then one minute to rinse her filthy body off. Here, she wasn't under a time limit. Here, she could adjust the water to her personal comfort, and enjoy it for as long as she wished.

Such a simple little thing, being able to take one's time to clean themselves off.

Yet it was more freedom for the enjoyment of comfort than Tellion had ever known. Without thinking, Tellion shut her eyes and let herself bask in the sheer pleasure of warm water splashing across her host's body. No sooner had she closed her eye lids that the images returned.

It was always happening whenever there was darkness. She was worried about the fragile state of her mind.

Tellion shuddered as the dreadful moments of her near death, Temerash's anguished cries as he was blasted into oblivion, and that horrific red eye that was as equally ominous as it was gigantic, all continued to flash through her mind. Tellion willed her eyes to open and spare her the dread of that terrifying experience.

As the water ran down her exposed body, Tellion stared at her hands. They were trembling, the physical manifestation of the fear that was coursing through her. In that moment, Tellion felt as weak and feeble as she would in her own natural body.

She had thought saving herself would have brought jubilation, but instead all Tellion had felt in the last few days was a great weariness and fear. She hadn't slept well, despite not being subject to further dreams, and even her own natural body felt drained from it all.

Placing her head against the smooth surface of the interior wall, Tellion continued to stare at her shaking hands. As her mind continued to dwell on everything that she had experienced in the last few days, she couldn't help but feel her fear slowly morph into frustration, then anger. Before she realized it, Tellion's hands had clenched into tight fists and she lightly punched them into the surface.

"Why…" she whispered to herself. "Why is this happening to me? I was supposed to be… free."

That was what the first voice had told her, before she had taken that life altering fall into a fate that had defied her original destiny. It had told her that freedom would come with a price, but nothing she could have imagined would have been close to everything that she had already endured. In so many ways, she still felt like she was a prisoner to this new fate. And Susan, poor Susan…

 _Help me._

All of Tellion's attention was suddenly drawn to the faint voice that whispered across her mind. She knew instantly who that voice belonged to, even if she had never heard her speak before.

"Susan." Tellion said in the softest tone her vocal cords could allow her to.

She turned to what she believed was the sound of Susan's voice, and felt her body lose all motor skills when she saw the shadowy outline of a figure standing on the other side of the thin plastic sheet that was now separating them. The shadowy figure reached out a tiny, frail hand that mimicked the ones her host body had and pressed it against the sheet. Tellion pressed herself into the cold surface of the adjacent wall as she saw the plastic press inward at the touch of the figure.

 _Save me. I'm lost…cold…scared…_

Despite her fear, Tellion felt the desire to reach out to Susan greater than any potential danger to herself. Heart throbbing within her chest, she lifted her arm and cautiously pressed her hand against the portion of the sheet that had been pressed in. When she felt the solid force of mass on the other side pushing back against her touch, Tellion's entire body shuddered. A weary breath seeped from Tellion's aching lungs at the feel of Susan's touch.

 _Don't leave me._

"I haven't Susan. I won't leave you. But you have to tell me how to find you. You have to tell me where you are. Please." Tellion begged.

 _Don't forget me…_

"I won't…I could never forget you Susan." Tellion said, barely able to hold back her sorrow.

 _Find me._

"Where are you?!" Tellion screamed, ripping back the plastic sheet as her desperation spilled over her ability to control her emotions.

An empty, steam saturated room was there to greet her upon the other side. The figure was gone, no trace of it remained. It was as if it had never been there at all. A horrible sinking feeling formed in the center of her abdominal area, and Tellion collapsed onto her bottom in the washing station. Wasted and drained, she could do nothing except place her hands upon her trembling face.

What had just happened? Had any of that even been real? Had Susan really called out to her in a desperate bid for salvation, or had she just imagined it all? Was she really losing her mind? Tellion really felt as if all of those questions were true. With everything that she had experienced in the last few days, she didn't know how to not think that some part of her rational consciousness had been ripped away from very fabric of herself.

She truly felt the weight of the loneness of her situation falling down upon her. Unable to withstand it, Tellion let her emotional walls crumble and began to weep. She sat there, letting her sorrow pour out, losing all concept of time. Her tears mixed with the falling water, washing down her feeble body, and spilling away into the drain to be lost forever.

A light knocking from the other side of the door was what brought Tellion back from her torn emotional state.

"Susan?" Linda's muffled voice came from the other side. "Sweetie, are you alright in there?"

Tellion quickly got back to her feet and pulled the sheet back to cover the washing station. The moment she had done that, the door swung open and Linda stepped inside.

"Susan!" she cried. "You got water everywhere. What have you been doing?"

Tellion wiped away her tears and peeked her head out from the behind the cover to look at Linda.

"I sorry. I slipped and water got out."

Linda gave her a questioning look before taking a nearby drying cloth and wiping up the water all over the floor. She then placed another one on the sink for her as well as a set of new, and presumably clean, garments for her to wear.

"Well, try to hurry up and finish sweetie. We're all waiting for you downstairs."

"Ok mom." Tellion said, trying her best to hide the sadness that she was feeling as she addressed this woman as if she really where her own mother. The woman who could have never understood that her real daughter had cried out from a space beyond the physical realm to plea to a parasitic space slug that had taken over her ailing body to rescue her. "Not much longer."

With her reassurance, Linda shut the door. Tellion kept her word and finished cleaning herself. Although it was more of a task rather than a necessity for her. Tellion needed to do something to take her mind off of Susan's terrified plea to save her.

With her mind still a mass of confusion, Tellion turned the water off and exited the washing station. She rapidly dried herself off and put the appropriate garments, slipping four of the sleeping pills into a back pocket before hurrying downstairs. Everyone was waiting around the dinner table, their plates already full of various foods that she had yet to try. If there was even one small sliver of enjoyment that Tellion was able to obtain in this agonizing existence she had fallen into, it was the delicious experience of taste. Although, Tellion thought as her face grew warm as she looked next to her at Mark, there were other things about this new life that she was finding most enjoyable…

For a very short time, Tellion allowed herself to become distracted by the wonderful food and happy company of Mark and Susan's family. Yet, even admits all that joy, Tellion could feel the four pills in the pocket of her pants. She hated this deception, but it was for their own protection. She just needed to have a moment to give it to them without any of them noticing.

Even as Tellion thought of how to make this happen, Ellaine peered out the window as they were finishing up their meal.

"Hey," she said, pointing outside. "Look at that. Shooting stars."

They all peered out the window, Tellion included. She saw that Ellaine was pointing at. Indeed, there was a multitude of objects burning up in the planet's atmosphere. Each only lasted for a few moments, but each presented a spectacle that Tellion couldn't help but admire. Even though she suspected most of those 'shooting stars' were just various bits of metal debris and other space junk that had been put into low orbit around this world that had finally been pulled into the atmosphere to burn up.

Despite their still primitive state of technology, humanity had placed more low orbital communications relays into space than any other species the Yeerk Empire was aware of at this time. It was one of the reasons the Pool ship had remained at a much further orbital distance than what was normal for other worlds. A random communications relay running into the Pool Ship and being destroyed would bring much unneeded attention to their forces.

Arthur rose from his chair. "Come on, let's catch it before it ends. This doesn't happen every day."

No one objected, they all rose from their seats and started to hurry out of the room. Tellion deliberately shoved the last of her food into her mouth and began to chew. Mark gently grabbed her hand and tried to led her out as well. Tellion shook her head at him, pointing to her mouth.

"Come on honey," he said, pulling her again. "You can chew outside too."

Again, Tellion shook her head, waving her free arm around the table. Mark persisted.

"Susan, no one's going to care if you make a little mess. We can clean it up later. I don't want you to miss the meteor shower."

Again, Tellion shook her head and waved at the table. The second time, Mark seemed to relent and released her hand. He began exiting the room, but didn't take his eyes off of her. "Just hurry up and finish. I want you to see this, ok?"

Tellion smiled behind her food saturated cheeks and nodded at him. Mark smiled back and left the room. She waited until she heard his footsteps exit the back door. She immediately pulled the pills from her pocket and dropped one into each of their cups. Tellion waited until she was sure they were all dissolving before leaving the kitchen and joining the family outside. They were all staring up at the night sky as more and more of the objects burned up in the atmosphere. Tellion watched all of the bright faces, the almost innocent like wonder that they all displayed at such a basic spectacle. Some part of her wished that she could feel what they felt. But that was impossible.

Tellion didn't have to look up at the night sky with mystery and awe. She had been born in space. She knew the horrors that was lurking out there in the endless, cold void.

She went to Mark's side and he pulled his arm around her. Tellion felt her body tense from his touch, but she quickly relaxed in his grip and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Glad you didn't wait." he said to her, staring up at the darkened sky. "I really wouldn't want you to miss this."

Tellion lifted her eyes to watch it too. And she hated doing it. Because unlike Mark, Ellaine, Linda, and Arthur, she didn't watch those falling extraterrestrial objects with innocent curiosity. She knew, somewhere up in that dark sky spotted with the light of long dead stars, the Yeerk Pool ship was orbiting this unsuspecting world. It was up there, orchestrating the eventual subjugation and ultimate destruction of this beautiful world. And she, one feeble, insignificant Yeerk, was trying to hide from all of those dark forces that presided over this unsuspecting world. And how long could she hide? How long could she continue to pretend that the war, and conquest of this world, wasn't happening all around her?

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Mark asked, breaking Tellion from her feelings of dread for both this world and the people she had grown to care for.

Tellion glanced at him for a moment, smiled, and looked back up at the falling objects. "Beautiful." she whispered.

Even as she forced the smile, Tellion struggled to keep the uneasy feeling that lurked within her from showing to Mark. Because deep down, she didn't think this 'falling star' shower was a natural occurrence. Its timing, its approximate placement in relation to where they were located on this world, it all fit too perfectly to allow her a distraction to place those pills in the family's drinks. But if she was right, then that meant that one of those greater powers had assisted her once again.

But why? How could she be so important to either of them that being of such immense and vast power would waste their time and energy on her? How could she, a lowly Yeerk, be of any use to either of them? Tellion found, almost frighteningly, that she had so many questions, and yet so very few, if any, answers.

Even as she pondered on these questions, Tellion felt Mark's hand tighten its grip on hers, breaking her away from her thoughts of both the higher powers using her as a pawn and her fear of the overwhelming invasion of her people that lurked over this wondrous and unsuspecting world. Unable to help herself, Tellion felt her attention being pulled away from the falling objects in the black sky above over to Mark's face.

Just seeing that he was looking at her, the kindness in his eyes, the gentleness in his face…it made her heart slam into the bones of the skeletal structure that protected her torso's vital organs. But when he brought his other hand up and placed it on her face, Tellion began to feel her whole body tremble.

That warmth, the one that she had felt since the moment he had first pressed his lips against hers, when he had first held her in his arms, when he had first shown her an affection that was beyond that of mere friendship…it was returning to her. Coursing all through her physical and mental capabilities, encompassing all of her very being. And becoming something deeper than what existed in the mere physical plane of understanding. Even as she looked back at him, Tellion felt a great fear overcoming her. The fear of the unknown.

 _Oh Mark,_ she thought, barely able to control the swirling mixture of emotions that were rampaging all through her emotional processes. _What is this…feeling coursing through me? Why does it feel that this heart in my chest is going to explode when you look at me like that? Why do I feel such fear and comfort at the same time from your touch? My people…I…never knew of this feeling. It's so alien to me, so terrifying, yet so joyous at the same time. We Yeerks don't have any kind of word for this feeling. But…there must be a word for this emotion. In some language, in some culture other than ours, that can explain this warmth and comfort you bring to my weary spirit. Please, just give me a word for this feeling._

But she didn't have an answer, and maybe she never would.

Torn between this unknown disturbances that Mark was igniting within her and her guilt for sharing such a moment with him when it truly belonged to Susan, Tellion lowered her head to avoid his gaze. Yet, before she could even make Mark feel like she was rejecting his actions to her, Tellion leaned against Mark and rested her head into his chest.

Even as she pressed her face into his firm body, she felt his arms pull up around her and tighten. And it made her feel so immensely at peace.

"Susan…" Mark whispered.

"I want to be in home." she spoke softly into his chest.

"You don't want to see the falling stars?"

"I no like the night," she said. "I think of…"

She never felt so torn in that moment. Wanting to desperately to tell Mark the truth of why she didn't want to be outside and looking up at the night sky, yet knowing that she couldn't because he likely wouldn't believe her, nor could she put him in any kind of danger.

"You're thinking of the crash." Mark said into her ear. "That night that you…"

Tellion tightened her grip on him. She didn't know what he was truly speaking of, but she knew the answer to give him. "Yes."

She clearly heard the breath exhale from his chest before he started to led her back towards the house. "Come on then, let's go back inside."

Tellion said nothing to him as he took her back inside. It wasn't very long after they had gone back into the home that the rest of the family returned.

"That was pretty short, but it was quite a sight." Arthur said to all of them.

"Did you like the falling stars honey?" Linda asked Tellion. "You didn't seem happy to be outside."

"The falling stars I liked." Tellion answered, looking at her feet. "I no like the night. That is when the crash happened."

She glanced up at the family, and saw all of their worried faces to know that she had said the 'right' thing. Or maybe it hadn't been. There was still so much to being human that she didn't know about. Ellaine was the first among them to speak.

"Suzie, do you…remember any of what…"

"No." Tellion answered, turning her head away from all of them. "And…I don't want to remember…"

And that wasn't a lie. Tellion truly didn't want to know what horrible thing it was that had befallen Susan to put her in the state she currently was in. It made her equally sad and guilty about her own state of being. Even as she dwelled on these thoughts, Tellion felt Mark sit beside her on the couch and place his arm around her. Just his gentle touch was enough to make her whole body freeze and the voice in the back of her throat die.

"It doesn't matter if you never remember anything honey." he said with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder. "We're going to make a lot of new memories together go forward. And they'll be good ones."

Tellion didn't know how to react to Mark's actions. She just mimicked him by putting her hand over his and squeezing it. "I'd like…to make good memories."

She looked from him to Susan's family. "With…my family."

No matter what concern they may have had for her, or what they perceived to be her current state, Susan's family all surrounded her and each gave her a warm hug. And so did Mark. She liked their hugs, they brought to Tellion a sense of peace that she desperately needed. But she enjoyed Mark's the most. It was always different from the rest. Deeper and more connecting than the others. And more pleasant. Tellion let herself become immersed in their affections.

She was so distracted by it all that she hadn't realized that Linda had gone back into the kitchen and retrieved their drinks until Tellion noticed that they were all sipping from their cups. She made a point to be sure that the one she drank from was the clean cup. It was.

Tellion didn't break from the illusion that she savoring every moment of interaction with them without any concern being shown that something was wrong with her. Deep within her, she didn't feel anything good from the fact of lying to all of Susan's family. But again, she had to do these things to keep herself and Susan safe. Susan had reached out to her, asked Tellion, no begged Tellion to save her. She couldn't do that if the rest of her family was aware of what was really occurring. She had to keep this façade going on until she could find a way to rescue Susan. It didn't take long before the pills began to take effect over the others. One by one, they all became drossy. Not wanting to draw any suspicion to herself, Tellion pretended to grown weary herself. She rested herself against Mark, laying her head upon his shoulder. Even as she felt the strength draining from his body, Mark put his arm around Tellion and looked at her face.

"I'm…getting tired. Are you?"

"Getting tired." Tellion whispered, shutting her eyes and willing Susan's body to lose much of its strength.

Mark helped Tellion to her feet and looked at the rest of the family. "We're going to turn in early. It's been a long day for both of us."

The loudest response from the three of them was the very audible, strange noises that Arthur made when his sleep breathing was disrupted. Ellaine and Linda both looked him with strange gazes, then smiled at the two of them.

With nothing left to be said, Mark 'carried' Tellion upstairs to their sleeping quarters. When they were in the room and the door closed, Mark rested Tellion on the bed and sat across from her. He took his shoes off and started to get up.

"I'll go back down to the couch." he muttered in a weary voice.

Like she had done days before, Tellion reached across the bed and grabbed his hand, stopping Mark from going.

"No." she whispered to him in the dim light that barely showed either of their features and expressions. "Please don't go."

Mark sat back down and stared at her. "Susan…"

She took his hand and placed it upon her hot face, and felt her body shudder from even that faintest contact. "Don't leave me. I…don't want to sleep alone."

"But why?" he asked, clearly the effects of the sleeping pill breaking down some mental barriers he had erected with their mutual interactions. "Why are you afraid to sleep?"

"I'm…terrified of sleeping alone." Tellion answered him with true conviction in her voice. "That I won't…wake up again."

That was not a lie. It may not have been the full truth of what Mark thought her words meant, but to Tellion, what she confessed to him in that moment of full vulnerability was the expression of her deepest fears in that instance. She was terrified of sleeping. One part because, as a Yeerk, she had never fully dreamed before until entering Susan's body. The other part…was due to the terrors that dreams brought her. Dreams of Temrash's death. His agonizing and terrified screams of being blasted away from existence. And the all-encompassing fear of that seemingly omnipotent eye that's darkness crushed and consumed every part of her very being. Every time she experienced that feeling, it was as if Tellion felt her very essence die. It was a fear far greater than any that Visser Three had ever installed in her.

Mark, for whatever reasons that Tellion could never truly understand, laid down on the bed and pulled her into his embrace. Just lying there, with his arms around her, it brought so much comfort and joy to Tellion that she wished the moment would never end.

"I can't even begin," Mark murmured into her hair as he rested her face against his chest. "How terrifying it has to be for you to fall asleep. Every time. Knowing what happened…"

His words. His touch. It was so deeply moving to her. More than any interaction she had ever felt with another being. Tellion tightened her embrace on him.

"I'm afraid, that it will all end…"

"You came back to me." Mark said. "I have to believe…it was meant to be."

"I don't know what to believe anymore." Tellion said, the sadness all too clear in her voice.

Mark shifted his body, and made her look at his face in the dimness that surrounded them. "Just believe…that you're meant to be here…with me…"

She couldn't look at him for more than just that one moment. It caused so much distress within Tellion. She pressed her face into his chest, fighting back the sadness that was forming up inside her weary spirit. This…feeling that was flowing all through her, it continued to encompass all of what she was. And Tellion was still no closer to understanding any of what these feeling were than that first night Mark had touched his lips to hers. But among it all, she couldn't shake the sensation that she was betraying Susan by being there, in that instant, and sharing that moment with Mark. A moment that rightfully belonged to Susan.

Not knowing what to truly say to him or even make sense of her own feelings, Tellion just laid there with Mark, letting him hold her in silence even as she felt the energy drain from his body.

Slowly, perhaps slower than she ever would have thought possible, Mark's body lost all of its strength. Before much longer, his heavy breathing signified to Tellion that he had fallen into a state of deep slumber. Moving with a calculated caution, she eased herself out of his grasp and off of the bed. She took a moment to observe him, and once she had confirmed that Mark was indeed resting in peaceful dreams, Tellion made her move. Changing out of her sleeping garments and into ones that were more suited for her coming tasks, Tellion hesitated for one instant before leaving Susan's husband. Not knowing why she did it, Tellion placed her hand on the side of his face, the way he had done to her so many time since she had met him, and gently ran her fingers across his rough skin. She only did it only once, but once felt more meaningful to her than most of the other actions she had taken in her life.

Setting her mind to the task at hand, Tellion reluctantly left Mark to dream what she hoped were wonderful and innocent dreams on the bed. Quietly sneaking down the steps, Tellion mentally mapped each step that she took, taking great care to not put any pressure on the portions that she already knew would create the greatest amount of noise. When she reach the bottom, she scanned the living room. Linda and Arthur were not there, not doubt having gone to the spare bedroom to sleep. Only Ellaine remained, and she was laid out across the large couch in front of the television. As Tellion put on her shoes, she noticed that the blanket that had been placed over Ellaine had fallen off of most of her small body. Even across the room and in the dim light, Tellion could see her body trembling slightly from lack of sufficient heat.

As she passed by, Tellion grabbed the blanket and carefully placed it back over 'her' little sister. Even as she did, a faint, almost approving sound came from Ellaine's closed lips. Tellion smiled at the experience, feeling at least a little glad that she had done something good among her current actions. She pushed Ellaine's hair back behind her ear and gently patted her head.

"Sleep well, sister." Tellion whispered to her before leaving the home.

The night was full of silence as she walked out into it, almost devoid of life. At least it felt that way to Tellion. Unable to break the unease the dwelled over her, she hurried along. Retracing her steps from days earlier, Tellion went back to where she had hidden the remains of the Yeerk Pool liquid. Thankfully, her hiding spot remained undisturbed.

Since she was not in a state of ominous rush, Tellion opted to only take one canister of Pool liquid at a time. And that was what she did. It took some time, but eventually she managed to transport the remaining canisters to well-placed hiding spots in the basement of Mark and Susan's home.

When finished, Tellion had only one final task to complete to hopefully cover her path of escape from the Yeerk Empire. Remembering each step that she had taken only a short time ago thanks to her eidetic memory, Tellion went back to where she had hidden the human transportation vehicle Samier had used to bring Tellion the tools she had needed to save herself. Mercifully, it didn't appeared disturbed in any way.

Unbeknownst to Mark or the rest of the family, Tellion had taken what little free time she had been able to sneak in under their concerned watch to study a primitive set of topographical layouts of the surrounding area. It had been immensely difficult, having to utilize just her plain knowledge of the location of the home without any kind of auto global positioning systems or homing beacons. But Tellion had prevailed and found a large enough body of water nearby to dispose of the vehicle.

Turning it on, Tellion took a deep breath and shifted the vehicle into its driving gear and eased it out from the hidden spot. Remembering a prearranged path that she had laid out, Tellion followed her memories and took the vehicle to a secluded spot near a noisy bridge. Here, under the cover of many more human vehicles passing by above, Tellion turned off all light sources for the vehicle and crept it to the edge of a very sharp geographical incline. Taking one moment to glance around to assure that there were no curious eyes about, she shifted the vehicle into drive and edged it forward. Just as the front of the vehicle began to roll down the incline, Tellion leapt out. Rolling across the damp ground, she slipped into a patch of wet dirt that covered a good portion of her clothing in the semi-solid liquid. Tellion pulled herself into a sitting position as she watched the vehicle go down the embankment and crash into the body of water below. For one fleeting moment, it remained above the surface, almost defying all concept of Tellion's knowledge of physics. Then, as if she had willed it to out of her desperation, the vehicle began to sink beneath the surface until it had vanished below the dark surface, leaving nothing behind of its existence except a few pockets of air bubbles.

Tellion's relief escaped her lips as the last thing to link her to her escape vanished. Even if the vehicle was found by either the native authorities or the Yeerk hunter squads, they would both likely attribute it to being Dr. Samier. Now, at least for the moment, she was free. Free to live a life that she had never expected, but had always desperately wanted. Standing on her feet, she glanced at her trembling hands, almost not believing any of this moment was real.

But it was, and she needed to make the most of it while she could. Turning from the destroyed evidence of her escape, Tellion made her way back home. She would have to use the Kandrona ray while everyone slept. Even though she still had over a full day left before needing to feed again, Tellion didn't want to risk not having the available ability to get her much needed Kandrona ray absorption. Nor did she ever, ever want to feel the pain of the Fugue again…

As Tellion slowly made her way back home, her mind drifted through many different thoughts. All of them ranging from her new found freedom to what her purpose was in the cosmos from being a play thing of beings that were more powerful than her tiny mind could comprehend. And with those thoughts came a mixed torrent of emotions. They shifted from her hope and joy at her escape of the other Yeerks, to ones of guilt for having overtaken Susan's life, and her fear that the invasion was still going on. But above it all…was her thoughts and feelings for Mark. Being with him, the way he affected her on both a physical level and to something beyond that, it filled Tellion with sensations…in a way that she couldn't describe. The only thing that she knew for certain was that Mark made her care for him in a way that she had never cared for another living being.

 _Dammit!_ She thought, pulling her arms weakly around her trembling body. _What is this? Why does thinking about him make me feel this way? It fills me with such warmth, fear, and pain all at once. It's so terrifying and comforting at the same time. Why…why don't we Yeerks have a word to describe this feeling? Am I…am I the first of my kind to ever feel this way?_

Even as she tried to make sense of what was going all through her troubled mind, Tellion walked around the corner of the street she was on, and stopped instantly. She was not alone. Halfway down the street was a transparent structure, illuminated by a single light. And an individual was standing inside. Fearful of being discovered, Tellion leapt into the shadows. From where she was lurking, she observed the person. Judging by her observation of their size, he was clearly a male human, and nearly equal in size to that of Ellaine, Tellion summarized that they were a young human. But she couldn't be entirely sure since their back was to her. At the distance she could see that they were speaking into the primitive communication device that was placed inside the structure, a 'phone'.

Unable to help herself due to the curiosity of such a young one being out so late, Tellion cautiously crept closer to where she could hear what he was saying.

"…don't give up." he growled in a deep voice that didn't seem to fit his smaller frame. "Never give up."

After he said that he hung up the phone. He didn't leave the structure, he just stood there in silence. Tellion didn't know why, but she could just tell by the way he was standing, and the faint tremors coursing through his body, that he was in deep distress. She almost dared herself to leave the shadows and go to him. She wasn't sure what she could do for him, but her spirit reached out to him, wishing that he wouldn't suffer from the clear distress that was overwhelming him. Even as she felt herself beginning to emerge from the darkness, he moved. He brought a hand up to his face and rested his head against the glass surface. Although she was still so new to being human, Tellion could just tell from the way that he was struggling to breathe.

"Tom…" he whispered.

Tellion heard, and felt the pain in that one word. The only Tom that she vaguely knew of was the former slave of Temrash. But the possibility of the person that this young male was speaking of being the same Tom was so astronomical in its probability. No, it had to be a different Tom that he was speaking of. As Tellion watched on, the young male growled in anger and punched the glass surface in front of him with such force that Tellion was almost sure that he would break it. It caused her to jump back into the surrounding darkness as he exited the small structure.

Tellion watched him in silence as he lifted his head to the stars and gazed longingly up at them. Despite the distance between them, Tellion could see the faint light glistening in his eyes. Yes, he was shedding tears of pain, tears that she was all too familiar of.

"Why did you…why did you spare me, and my family?" he asked to no one in particular. "Why did you have to…be…"

He never finished his question to the empty cosmos. Even as Tellion watched him, the young male rapidly brought his hands up to his face to wipe away the clear tears that were seeping down his face. With nothing else left for him to clearly say, he briskly walked away.

As he furthered the distance between them, Tellion stepped out from the darkness and watched him depart. She didn't know why, but she bowed her head to him as he was about to walk around the corner and out of her sight forever.

"May you find the peace that you seek." she whispered to him.

And then he was gone. She was alone again. With nothing left but to do but whatever she desired with her own doing. And with that, she headed home.

Once back inside Susan and Mark's dwelling, she checked once more to make sure that everyone was sound asleep. They were. Assured of her safety of discovery, Tellion went into the basement and locked the door. Once secured, she placed her dirty garments inside the washing machine and turned it on. As its mechanical whirl drowned out any other sound inside the room, Tellion set about restructuring the mini-Yeerk pool she had created for herself. Setting up the mini-Kandrona ray generator and the refilling the self-depravation tank with Yeerk Pool liquid felt more of a task than a desperate necessity. Still, Tellion set everything up and placed herself back in the Yeerk pool before setting up the ventilator and exiting Susan's body. Becoming that blind, helpless slug that she was once again felt like being returned to a form of her own personal bondage. Yet Tellion was all too willing to accept that state. It was the only way that she could feel any form of suffrage for the life that she had taken over.

Absorbing the Kandrona rays didn't feel as rejuvenating as they had been before. But they were a necessity for Tellion and her continued survival, so she didn't allow herself to feel any discomfort in what she was doing in order to live. After what she felt was a sufficient time needed to continue existing, Tellion reentered her host body.

Opening her eyes once more felt like being awakened from a deep sleep, one that she was perpetually forced to fall into again and again. After being revitalized by her much needed Kandrona feeding, Tellion returned to the dreary task of erasing all evidence of the Yeerk pool having ever existed. After the ventilator and Kandrona ray generator were disassembled and hidden away, she drained the Yeerk Pool liquid back into their containers. As she began to clean out the inside of the tank, she also placed her washed garments into the drying unit and used its noise to hide her actions.

When it was all done, Tellion quietly wrapped a towel around her bare body and left the basement. Back upstairs, she found Ellaine, still resting comfortably on the couch, not appearing to have moved once since she last saw her. As she passed by the room that Linda and Arthur were using, she checked on them as well. They were both laying in the bed, both appearing to be in a peaceful slumber. Tellion weakly sighed with relief to see that none of them appeared hurt by her giving them the sleeping pills again. As she slowly ascended the stairs to the bedroom, Tellion hoped and wished that this would be the very last time that she would do this to them.

Moving as silently as Susan's body would allow her to, Tellion slipped into the bathroom and turned the shower on once more. She wished that there was enough time to just stay inside the privacy of that washing station and enjoy the warm water that splashed across her. But time was not her friend this night. Knowing that she had to hurry, Tellion pushed aside her desire for the mere pleasure of comfort from the warm water and quickly set about cleaning all of the filth that she had gotten on her. Try as she might, no matter how many times she scrubbed both her skin and hair, she couldn't shake away the feeling that she wasn't entirely clean.

Even after she could see no clear remains of the dirt and grim that had covered her, Tellion still felt a little bit filthy. Unable to shake that feeling from her body and mind, Tellion turned the water off and exited the shower. Taking the towel that she had brought with her, she quickly dried herself off. Once enough of the water had been wiped away from her skin, she took the towel and wrapped it around her head, nestling her wet hair inside the wrap the way Linda had shown her a few days ago. Throwing on a clean pair of under garments and a light shirt, Tellion exited the bathroom and returned to the bed room.

As she snuck inside, she cautiously looked about. Mark remained where she had left him, it was as if she had never left. Thanking her good fortune, Tellion entered the room and slowly closed the door behind her. It took a little time for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room, she was still struggling to get used to these two eyes and their limits. Once she could see well enough to move about, she headed over to the dresser and looked for a pair of suitable night garments to put on so not to arouse Mark's suspicions when he woke in the morning.

Thinking of him, she looked over her shoulder at him again. And her whole body froze.

He wasn't awake, mercifully for her. But he had moved in his sleep. Somehow, the shift had caused the shirt he was wearing to be pushed up slightly, giving her a very clear view of his flat stomach. And its well defined muscle pattern.

She had never really seen any part of him that wasn't really covered. And with clothing being such a rare and almost odd commodity among the many host bodies of the Yeerk Empire, including her time as a Gedd and then in Tallaxia, Tellion was far from a stranger to seeing unclothed bodies. But…this...wasn't the same. His muscles were almost puny in comparison to that of a Hork-Bajir's torso, or the strong back tendons of a Ssstram. And yet, her eyes were fixated on those muscles. Staring at them, it made her legs suddenly get weak.

The pace of her heart quickened, the way it had earlier when he had gazed at her with such a deep affection. She felt the pulse of its rhythm rushing all through Susan's body, and strangely, she felt that pulse echo into her own frail Yeerk body. This was something that she had never experienced before. It made Susan's body react in a strange, and almost terrifying way. And yet, she only felt herself yearning for those sensations to continue.

Unable to full understand or even control her actions, Tellion quietly glided over to the bed and sat on the edge across from Mark. He didn't even move slightly from the shift in weight from her sitting down. Not that she really even noticed such a trivial thing. All of her attention was focused on his exposed skin. Swallowing what felt like an obstruction in her throat, Tellion leaned across the bed, hovering just over Mark as he continued his peaceful and oblivious slumber. She watched in the silence of the darkness as his torso slowly rose and fell from his breathing. His body, despite all testaments of her people's reports of the human physic being so fragile, appeared so very…alluring to Tellion.

With those strange sensations running all through Susan's body, Tellion hesitantly reached out for him with a trembling hand. Even as her fingers shook almost violently from the uncontrollable urges coursing through her, Tellion found herself unable to stop her actions. She…wanted to touch him. To feel his skin against hers. When her hand gently rested on the ridged bumps of his abdomen muscles, Tellion felt a tremor run through her. One so powerful that she almost lost all control over herself.

The pulse of her body's single heart pounding through all corners of her small frame, Tellion began brushing her finger tips across his stomach without conscious thought. Why was she doing this? What was causing her to act this way? She had never behaved this way around another living being, so why was Mark different? Was it because…of that moment when he had touched his lips to hers? Tellion didn't know if there was a true answer to her internal questions. All she knew for certain was that he made her feel in a way that no other living being had in her entire life. When he looked in his special way at her, when he spoke with such care to her, it made her feel a warmth that no other had ever done.

And that warmth, that feeling of complete comfort and belonging that she had never known of until the day she had met him, what was it? Her people had so very little experience of such interactions. They didn't know of such kindness, or such caring for another. They didn't even had a word to describe it. Dammit, why couldn't she have a word to equate with these mysterious feelings?

Despite her feeling more confused and lost than ever, Tellion couldn't stop herself from how she was behaving. Without even truly thinking of it, her hand guided itself up Mark's abdomen, up to where the edge of his folded shirt was. Nervously placing a portion of her body's lips in between her teeth, Tellion slowly, and with a mixture of curiosity and terror, began to pull his shirt up. Each set of well-defined muscles made themselves available to her as she continued to pull his frail garment up his torso, and each new portion of his flesh that became available for her eyes only enhanced her desire to see more.

She was…so scared in that moment of facing the unknown, yet, Tellion had never felt herself more driven to explore something that she knew nothing of.

When she finally pulled his shirt up enough to reveal his full developed chest muscles, Tellion felt her whole body grow weak from the sight. Mark…his body…it was…so fascinating to her. So…desirable to her. But what that…desire meant to her…Tellion just didn't know.

As her pulse continued to pound through her and nervous sweat began to perspire across her face, Tellion's eyes shifted from Mark's well displayed frame, down to his more…intimate area.

She had never…ever given any thought to reproductive actions.

She had never been required, or ordered to, to mate with an opposing male of the species she had previously inhabited. Her first Gedd host had already far surpassed her prime birthing life period, and had already sired five offspring to be of use to the further use to the empire. And Tallaxia, although she had been in prime birthing years of her life cycle when Tellion had been assigned to her, she had never had to mate with another of her kind. Naharah were not ideal to the Empire's uses or designs. Hork-Bajir had been the primary focus of all the Empire's reproductive programs. So she had never been ordered to make new Naharah hosts for the Empire. In terms of such experiences, Tellion was completely clueless in these matters. And yet, she found herself strangely drawn to the thoughts for the first time in her young life.

She had never…paid much attention to the intimate parts of humans. Much less that of any male. Silly to think, being that in her true state, Tellion wasn't really a female. And yet, she felt herself being more of female than anything else in her entire life. Her eyes moved without her being truly conscious of her actions, they became focused on that part of Mark's body. She didn't know why, but Tellion licked her lips as she slowly and carefully brushed her hand down towards that very private part of Mark's body. She didn't know if this was right, if he would approve of her touching him in this way while he slept, but in so many ways that she couldn't understand, Tellion found herself with a lack of care about such things. She wanted to touch him, she wanted to see him, she wanted to know what this curious mystery was lurking through the depths of her most private thoughts. Her whole body trembled as she moved her hand down to the edge of his pants.

Tellion's whole body was trembling as she grasped the edge of his undergarments, pulling them up slightly. In the darkness, she couldn't see anything. And yet, her mind concocted a thousand different scenarios as to what she could or would be able to do if she were to pull just a little harder and see what was hidden beyond her visible sight.

 _Oh Mark…_ she thought. _Would you…want me to touch you like this… or more…_

What that 'more' was, she just didn't know, because she didn't know anything about this kind of situation. Tellion couldn't help herself, she kept pulling with her feeble strength to reveal his reproductive area to her curious mind.

As she was just on the edge of revealing that most treasured mystery to herself, the room suddenly became dimly illuminated. The faint light was enough to stop Tellion's actions and she collected her thoughts. The light, it was coming from the star's reflective rays upon the sole terrestrial satellite that orbited this planet. But it was enough to help illuminate the darkness when this world's rotation brought it away from the star's rays.

In that light, Tellion saw something.

She saw the framed image that had been placed upon the small table next to the bed where she had rested for many days. In the darkness, Tellion felt her gaze pulled away from her desire to see Mark's reproductive area to that frozen image of time. It was the one of Mark and Susan, in their mutual embrace that they held in a time before her coming into their lives. Tellion stared at it. More specifically at Susan's image. She looked very long, and sadly at that picture of a human woman that was full of life, at her smile that showed a life that had never known the kind of hardship and cruelty that Tellion had been born into. Sitting there, feeling as if those gentle eyes were boring into her, Tellion instantly ceased her actions.

 _Find me. Save me._ Susan's cry of help echoed all through Tellion's mind.

Her hand immediately pulled itself back from her exploratory actions upon Mark. Tellion looked at her shaking appendage, its uncontrollable spasms a reflections of her fractured mind and thoughts. Tellion shifted her gaze from her feeble hand to Susan's frozen face. As she stared at…her…Tellion felt a surge of emotion spring up from within her. One that she knew all too well.

 _What…_ Tellion thought to herself. _What did I…what did I almost…_

Terrified by her actions, Tellion slipped off of the bed and immediately left the room. She rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. In the darkness, Tellion stood. Alone. Lost, confused. But above all, she felt something stronger than all of those emotions.

Guilt.

She had…taken a moment from Susan's life. No. Not taken. Stolen. She had stolen what should have been an intimate moment between her host and the husband that cared so deeply for her. Realizing that did nothing to alleviate Tellion's emotional pain. She squeezed the hand that she had used to explore Mark's body several times. The last time she clenched it into a fist so tightly that she almost thought that she would crack the bones under the pressure.

Tellion didn't even realize that she was crying until she felt the first tears rolling down her hot cheeks.

"Susan…" Tellion whimpered in a weak voice into the darkness that surrounded her. "I didn't…I don't know what happened to me…I…"

She dropped to her knees and placed her hands upon her guilt ridden face.

"I'm sorry! Susan. I didn't mean to do that with him. I just…" Tellion cried. "Susan. Please forgive me…forgive me…"

Susan wasn't there to answer her. But the silence was enough to make Tellion believe that she deserved all of the misery she had brought to herself in that moment. Because in the end, to her, she was still nothing more than a thief. A stealer of a life that she never deserved to belong in. And nothing in that moment could happen to convince Tellion otherwise.


	12. A Girls Night

"…four blocks of central downtown remain closed as crews work round the clock to repair the EGS tower's top two floors. Reports in early morning hours from passing commuters of falling debris from over a week ago have been widely exaggerated, officials attributed the minor collapse to flaws in the building's initial structural design, and eye witness claims of the debris causing some injuries have been dismissed, stating that there have been no reported cases of falling debris injuries reported at any of the local hospitals. Authorities have assured everyone that the cordoned off area is just a preliminary precaution and that there is no danger of further collapse of the building, also immediate structural supports are being put in place to prevent any future collapses. In other news, meteorologists and other weather experts continue to remain baffled by the unexplained phenomenon that lead to the touching down of several small and very localized tornados around the greater metropolitan area..."

"That's enough of that." Linda said, turning the circular dial on the vehicle dashboard, causing the radio frequency to change to a music station.

"Mom." Tellion said, faking a pouting voice. "I was listening to the reports."

That wasn't a total lie. Tellion didn't care so much about the immediate reports about things happening around the city. She was just trying to monitor the human intelligence reports to see if there was anything that she could decipher concerning either herself or the local Yeerk invasion forces. The mention of the EGS tower did sound somewhat familiar to Tellion. But any information that she had processed about it was just what she gathered at a passing glance of data from some briefing that she would just as soon as forget, and nothing more. Still, she really felt like she should have known something about that building in relation to her current situation that she should have known about.

"You don't need to concern yourself with stuff like this hon." Linda countered. "It's going to make you worry about a bunch of nothing."

As they drove down the interstate, Tellion and Linda both could see the massive building that was the EGS tower in the not so far distance. "Still…" Linda said, gazing at the structure that stood taller than all others above the city. "I think something is up about the whole matter about that collapse."

"Do you think?" Tellion asked, again faking ignorance.

"Honey, I'm no engineer, but a building doesn't just have a piece of itself fall apart for no reason. And it doesn't make any sense that the authorities would cut off four entire blocks around the building. I'll bet somebody in a high position wants to keep something under wraps. And those crazy tornados popping up randomly everywhere right after that? I wouldn't be surprised if they were all linked together somehow."

"That's mom, the crazy conspiracy theorist!" Ellaine joined in from the back seat. "Always thinking that something else is going on that no one else could figure out."

"I'm not implying anything Ellaine." Linda countered, "I'm just saying that this collapse is not being treated the way normal one is. And I've never heard of any kind of weather that just randomly makes tornados pop down without any kind of storm system. There really should be a very serious investigation of all this."

"Missing Dddaaannn?" Ellaine said, stretching out the name as she leaned forward in her seat.

Tellion looked over her shoulder at Susan's younger sister. "Dan?"

Ellaine nodded. "Yeah, he was a kind of big time investigative reporter around town. Found all kinds of crazy stuff going on that no one knew about."

 _I doubt he found out about a secret invasion of this world by an enslaving empire of parasitic slugs._ Tellion thought. _Or if he did, then he…_

"Well that doesn't matter now." Linda said. "He took a job with a big cable news network on the East Coast, so we won't have him around anymore."

"Yeah," Ellaine agreed with a strange smile. "no more eye candy for mom when she watches the news."

"Ellaine!" Linda gasped, her cheeks turning a shade of pink.

Ellaine only rolled her eyes in response. "Oh come on mom. You really expect me to believe that you didn't miss a single segment that had him in it because you really liked his 'investigative reporting'?"

"I'm happily married to your father!" she counted, focusing her eyes on the road ahead of them.

Tellion watched as Ellaine looked out the window towards the distant EGS tower. "Doesn't mean you can't look."

"Alright," Linda growled, clenching the steering wheel tightly. "any more out of you and we're heading back home! No mall. No movie. And you can do your homework tonight!"

"Not saying anything else." Ellaine said, shutting her lips and pulling her pinched fingers across them.

Tellion, while having master most of the human language of English, was still having a difficult time in understanding their non-verbal gestures as well as the use of words for other meanings that they referred to as 'slang'.

Linda grumbled under her breath and looked over at Tellion. "Just wait till you and Mark have kids. They'll drive you crazy every second of every day."

"Kids…" Tellion said, staring back at Linda.

Tellion didn't know of children. Yeerks didn't really have parents. They were all raised as part of a greater community. And the breeding programs to create new hosts…well all she knew was that there were specialized facilities that had been constructed on all of the Empire's subjugated worlds, facilitated with Yeerks specifically trained to tend to the needs of newborn infants of the various species they had conquered. The few scraps of information that had passed to her from the tiny number of out of system Yeerks she had communicated with said that the younglings were raised from birth with a steady flow of indoctrination teachings that created the belief that Yeerks were the benevolent masters of those subjugated species, and that it was both a right and a privilege for them to have a Yeerk to assume control over their bodies once they had reach suitable age to be of use to the Empire.

Tellion involuntarily sneered at the thought. Raised from birth to be made to believe that being a slave in your own body was a privilege…

Linda made a face, which broke Tellion's thoughts of disgust about the horrible things that her kind did to helpless world, and innocent children of various species.

"Oh…I'm sorry honey…I didn't mean to talk about that…" she said.

"What?" Tellion asked, not being able to disguise her cluelessness of what had been said to her. "What about kids?"

"Nothing!" Linda said, turning her attention back to the road. "Just some stupid thing that I was saying. Don't worry about it."

Tellion continued to look at Linda, but she didn't seem to want to speak any more about what she had just said. Tellion turned back to Elliane, but she too appeared to not try and make eye contact with her deliberately. Tellion noticed their subliminal attempts at evasion of her seemingly innocent question. She may not have been like the rest of her kind, but Tellion was still a Yeerk. And deception was something that she was very well aware when one was trying to do it to her. Yet, Tellion knew that both of their intentions were pure and innocent, so she opted to not press the matter any further.

They drove on without saying anything. Eventually they left the interstate and took many twists and turns on unnamed roads, until they had arrived at the vast community center known as 'the mall'. This was all part of what Linda and Elliane had called a 'girls night out'. Not that Tellion didn't like leaving Susan's home.

Once she had secured the rest of the Yeerk Pool liquid in her rapidly transforming underground layer, things had quickly changed for her betterment. A day after her private moment with Mark, he had told her that he had unfortunately needed to go back to 'work'. Back to being a doctor at a hospital. Thankfully, it wasn't the same hospital that she had escaped from, so Tellion at least hoped that the Yeerk forces hadn't infiltrated that place yet. So he was safe for now. Linda also had to go back to work as a school guidance counselor, whatever that was. And Ellaine had to go back to school too. Only Arthur had been able to stay with her on an extended period of time since he was 'retired'.

Tellion hadn't objected to the state of the situation, because she quickly learned that he took periods of recreation rest in the semi-evening hours of the day, granting her at least a few hours of uninterrupted time to soak Kandrona Rays. Tellion had observed him in those first few days, and established a pattern in Arthur's sleeping periods. During that time, Tellion had taken a few devices from around the dwelling and had constructed them into a makeshift alarm system within her personal Yeerk pool. Upon her settings, it would send powerful vibrations into the liquid of the Yeerk Pool, warning her that her safe time of Kandrona absorption was drawing to an end. She had made sure that her time in the pool was never more than two hours earth time. Any more, and she would risk exposer to Arthur or the others.

Arthur, much to her thanks, remained clueless of everything that transpired around him. Oblivious to the truth of everything, he had tried to help Tellion around the house, showing her some small and trivial things to pass the time, mostly about how various machines worked and how to perform maintenance on them. Maintenance was something that she was very well aware of as an engineer and could appreciate the knowledge that he imparted upon her. And Arthur seemed to be happy to share his knowledge of working on machines with her. Again, he didn't seem to know much about what to say or do around her, but at least he tried. And Tellion was grateful for his effort.

But her thoughts on the recent past were diminished as Linda pulled them into a predesignated space to for human vehicles. Once the vehicle had been parked, the three of them proceeded into the mall.

Tellion had to admit, she admired the careless and almost innocent aspect of human culture in this sector of the world. So much time and effort was put into purely recreational tasks that it made her so envious of not being able to experience these things as part of the Empire. The three of them went into various shops, looking at garments designed solely to appeal to the female portion of the human species. They all tried on various outfits, although Tellion felt herself rightfully out of place in these matters. She didn't know what human males, or more specifically Mark, would find appealing in what she chose to wear. Since she didn't know anything, Tellion chose to let Linda and Ellaine's opinions guide her choices. As she was trying on one of the many different outfits, Tellion heard two very familiar voices not far away from her.

"Come on Cassie, stop trying to hide in that little room and let me see you."

Tellion recognized that voice. It pulled her attention to a young native girl that was on the other side of the shop that she was in. Tellion only needed a momentary glance at her unique curves, her shiny hair, and the way she held herself to see that it was that young girl named Rachel that she had seen many days ago when she had rescued the dog Homer. As Tellion watched on in silence, another young female exited an adjacent room.

Cassie.

She didn't appear at all distraught like she had the day Tellion had first met her. But she also didn't appear completely happy either. Tellion didn't know why that was. Perhaps it was from the outfit she was wearing. It seemed to fit her body well, while also complimenting her skin coloration. At least, that's what Tellion thought.

But what would she know about human beauty?

Rachel seemed to approve, and that was good enough for Tellion.

"Now that's a knock out look there!" she exclaimed.

Cassie nervously looked at herself in the mirror across from her. "I don't know Rachel. This dress…it just isn't me. I mean, do you think Jake…"

Rachel put her hand affectionately on Cassie's shoulder. "Cassie girl, he thinks you look good in old thrift store clothes and overalls covered in animal poop. I guarantee you that if Jake saw you in this now, his eyes would pop out of his skull."

Rachel's words definitely had an effect on her, because Cassie immediately hid her face behind her hands. That only seemed to make Rachel even happier.

"You deserve to treat yourself girl. You've more than earned it with what you did a few days ago."

"I just…did some quick thinking. It was nothing special." Cassie replied.

"Susan."

Hearing her name called pulled Tellion's attention away from the two girls whose paths she had strangely managed to cross once again, even if they weren't aware of her presence. Tellion looked to see Ellaine in a different outfit that she was trying on. She turned around several times, giving Tellion a full display of her body and the clothes she was wearing. It was a strange design to Tellion. The outfit consisted of two pieces, one a cloth called a 'skirt' and the other a small band of material of the same type that only covered a small portion of Ellaine's chest. A good bit of her torso was exposed. It didn't seem to make any sense to Tellion. The point of clothing was to cover up one's bare body, so garments that were lacking in that area seemed like a very serious design flaw to her.

"Whatcha think?" Ellaine asked, her eyes full of hope.

Tellion was tempted to tell her the truth. That the outfit seemed very lacking in its purpose and that too much of her body wasn't protected from the various unknown elements that she could face when venturing out into the world. But the way she looked at her, it made Tellion decide that a lie was preferable.

"Looks like a knock out look." Tellion said, mimicking the statement Rachel had just said to Cassie.

"You think?" Ellaine asked before giving her a strange look. "Where did you hear that?"

"I heard it around." Tellion answered. "I think it is good on you."

"Well I don't!" Linda said as she walked into view. "You can go put that back and forget about wearing anything like that ever again!"

"But mom…" Ellaine protested.

"No buts about it. No daughter of mine is going to go around looking like that!" Linda exclaimed, looking harshly at Tellion. "And you shouldn't be encouraging her to wear stuff like that."

"Sorry mom." Tellion said, lowering her eyes.

Ellaine made a grumbling noise before going back into the changing room. When she did, Tellion looked back to where Rachel and Cassie had been, but they were both were nowhere to be seen. When Ellaine returned from the changing room in her original outfit they left the store and continued shopping. They spent a good amount of time moving from one end of the mall to the other, stopping in various outfit locations to try on many different types of garments. Eventually, they had several bags of clothing and went to the place that Tellion had been most looking forward too. The food consumption area. As much as she was enjoying all the recreational acts they were doing, Tellion had decided that the experience of tasting the various human foods was one of her more favorite parts of being human.

Not that she didn't enjoy the food that Arthur, Mark, and primarily Linda, had made for her. She just wanted to experience as much of delicious tastes that humanity had concocted for mere consumption of necessary proteins and minerals as she could. As they were entering the vast open food consumption area, a younger female, appearing somewhere in age between Susan and Ellaine's age, waved at them.

"Hello there!" she said in a very happy voice. "Would you like to try some of our free samples?"

Tellion looked at the tray of unknown food products, then back at her family. She had never seen food constructed this way. A very small bit of what seemed to be processed vegetation that Linda had called 'bread', topped with some kind of white substance that she had never before laid eyes on. She stared at Linda with what she hoped was a look of gaining her mother's approval before proceeding.

"Well," Linda said, taking one of the small items. "a sample can't hurt. Won't spoil our appetite."

She sternly looked at Tellion.

"Just one. Ok?"

"Just one." Tellion repeated.

She grasped one of the tiny food items. It barely fit into the palm of her hand, but it was warm against her skin. Tellion hesitantly took an exploratory bite out of the food. Her eyes instantly shot open and a rumble of approving noise came from the back of her mouth as the explosion of deliciousness overcame her sense of taste.

It was good! So good!

Not as enjoyable as strawberry ice cream, but it was very close in comparison. Tellion rammed the rest of it into her mouth and madly chomped down on the food item.

"Geesse, Suszie." Ellaine said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'd say she likes it." the younger girl stated. "Would you like to buy a full sized one?"

"They're bigger than this?" Tellion exclaimed, spitting out a bit of the food still sitting in her mouth as she began to reach for another one.

Linda began pushing Tellion along, keeping her from grasping another one of the delicious food items. "That's ok, we'll eat first. If we still have some room, we'll think about it."

"Oh, ok." the girl said to them before trying to draw attention to a few more humans that were passing by.

They went and sat down at a nearby table. Linda told the two of them to wait while she went and ordered something called pizza. When she was far enough away, Ellaine poked Tellion in the side.

"I told you if you keep eating stuff like that, it's going straight to your stomach."

"But it does go to my stomach." Tellion answered, not really understanding what Ellaine meant. "Food goes down the esophagus and ends up in the stomach to be digested and converted into necessary proteins and minerals for the body."

"Ok Ms. Professor." Ellaine said. "When did you become a scientist anyway?"

Silly thing to say to her. Tellion wasn't a scientist. She was an engineer. A specific type of engineer and a very good one at that.

"I am no scientist." Tellion told her. "I just want to learn everything I can."

"And yet you still can't control yourself when eating." Ellaine pointed back to the place where she had ravenously attacked the small morsel of food.

"But it was so good!" Tellion exclaimed. "Not as good as ice cream, but still so delicious."

"Well, this is one thing about the new you I like." Ellaine said. "All you ever used to eat was lettuce and drink coconut water. It was so dull and boring."

"Well I like eating now." Tellion said. She pointed back at the place where they had gotten the 'samples'. "What was that good food?"

Ellaine looked first at the place she was pointing to, then back at her. "Those were cinnamon buns."

"I like cinnamon buns!" Tellion exclaimed.

"Then you'll like this." Linda said, placing three plates down on the table, each with a very large triangular piece of food. "Pizza! Pepperoni and cheese, Brooklyn style."

Tellion didn't hesitate. She tried it, and found pizza was another one of the human foods that she now enjoyed. She was finished before Ellaine and Linda had finished even half of theirs. For some reason, her rapid finishing of the meal caused the two of them to chuckle slightly. Tellion didn't understand why. But there was still a great deal about being human that she didn't understand. She said nothing else as they each finished up their meals.

When they were done, Linda stood up. "Ok, I think we should use the restrooms before going to the movie."

"I am fine." Tellion said.

"Are you sure hon?" Linda asked. "I don't want you to have to leave in the middle of the movie."

"I am fine." Tellion repeated.

With that said. Linda and Ellaine went to the restrooms while she waited for them at the table. After they were out of sight, Tellion overheard two younger human girls talking at a nearby table.

"You're not going to just leave that there are you?" one said, pointing at a discarded cinnamon bun. "You only took one bite of it."

"No way." the other one said as she got out of her chair. "That stuff will go straight to my hips!"

Tellion didn't really pay attention to anything else they said as they both got up and went away, leaving the cinnamon bun just sitting there. Tellion watched them go, making sure that they wouldn't come back before turning her attention to the cinnamon bun. That delicious, so sweet, so enticing cinnamon bun.

Tellion contemplated what she should do as she continued to stare at it. The food article didn't belong to her, but it had been discarded by the younger girl. Surely it wouldn't hurt anyone if she were to go and claim it for herself. Besides, if no one claimed it, then the bun would likely be thrown away. And if Tellion had been trained to do at least one thing consistently in her life as a soldier in the Yeerk Empire, which was to not waste anything. Even food. So in a way, she was still holding true to her original principles for not wasting anything.

Tellion rose from her chair and moved towards the empty table, licking her lips as she went. The small cinnamon bun had been so very good. The big ones must be equally delicious, if not even more so. Her eyes became fixated on that oh so very enticing morsel of human design. Tellion didn't know if Linda would approve of her eating someone else's discarded treats, but that was the very last thing on Tellion's mind. All she could think of was sinking her teeth into that wondrous and oh so delicious cinnamon bun. As she reached the table, all of her attention was focused on that gooey topped treasure. She was so oblivious to all else that she didn't realize another person was on the other side of the table. Until the tiny hand grasped the edge of the cinnamon bun at the exact same time that Tellion grabbed it.

Her head instantly lifted to see who this interloper was.

He was young. Maybe around Ellaine's age. He had an interesting appearance. Not really seeming to belong to any of the subgroups that encompassed the human species. Maybe a genetic combination of either two or more of those subgroups. Still, it didn't hurt his appearance at all. Tellion guessed that he was what humans would consider 'attractive'. But she was still far too new to being human, and he was far too young to in any way be considered desirable to a human of Tellion's age.

He stared at her with equal confusion of someone else attempting to take the seemingly discarded cinnamon bun. Without thinking of her actions, Tellion gently pulled the cinnamon bun towards her. The unknown boy instantly responded in kind, pulling his end towards him. That one simple action changed everything between them.

A tension of impossible explanation formed up between the two of them. Tellion and this unknown boy narrowed their eyes at each other, like formidable predators staring each other down over a fresh kill. A low growl formed from behind the boy's teeth. Tellion responded with an equally ferocious growl.

She was not going to let this child just take away HER cinnamon bun. Not when she had first laid eyes on it and claimed it for her own. The tension instantly exploded in a microcosm of ferocity that only the two of them were capable of emanating for such an item.

"Mine!" they yelled in unison, each pulling with all their might.

The poor cinnamon bun was torn into two ragged halves from their respective ferocity. Neither Tellion nor the unknown boy seemed to care as they both crammed their hard won ends into their mouths. Even as she chewed down on the delicious sweets of the cinnamon bun, Tellion glared enviously at the boy as he consumed his claimed half. And strangely, he glared at her with equal envy. Each enjoyed their claimed prize, while also glaring with envy at the other half they had failed to claim as their own.

As Tellion watched him cautiously, another young male came rushing to them.

"Dammit Ax…xxxeeelll!" he proclaimed, firmly grasping the young boy. "We had a talk about this!"

Tellion took a moment to observe this new young male. Darker skinned than the boy she had just engaged in combat over for the cinnamon bun. Not so much as Cassie, but enough to distinguish him from other human subgroups. The new boy glanced over at Tellion, and for some strange reason his eyes scanned over her body. She still didn't know what that meant. There was still so much she had to learn about humans.

The other boy forced a smile at her. "I'm…really sorry about this Ms. This is my cousin Axel. He's…special. Sorry about your food."

"All ok." Tellion muttered with a mouth full of food.

He gave her a strange look, as if he found her speaking with a full mouth of food bizarre. Tellion had to remind herself that talking with food in one's mouth was not an acceptable custom among humans. The boy then took Axel by the hand and began leading him away.

"Axel," he growled. "you can't just walk over and take other people's food. It's rude."

"But it was not hers Marco!" Axel proclaimed, pointing back at the empty table. "It belonged to two others and they discarded it. The cinnamon bun belonged to no one! She tried to steal it from me!"

"Forget it Axel." Marco hissed. "You're causing a scene!"

"Why are you calling me Axel?" Axel questioned in a very loud voice. "You said my name was Philip!"

As Marco led Axel, or was it Philip, away Tellion suspiciously watched them head over to the far side of the food consumption area where there appeared three others were waiting for them. But they were so far away that Tellion couldn't make out their specific features to identify them. All Tellion could think of was that it was such a strange experience running into those two. Almost as if she should have recognized them somehow. Especially Axel/Philip. He acted almost like her, as if he had hardly ever eaten anything in his life and had been sheltered from the experience of the experience of taste.

Tellion began to notice many surrounding humans paying attention to her, and decided to return to her table. She had drawn enough attention to herself. And discretion was her primary defense at the moment.

By some act of almost divine mercy, Tellion was allowed to return to her seat before Linda and Ellaine returned to her. When they did, she faked that nothing had happened and she had just been sitting in the chair waiting for them.

"Everything ok honey?" Linda asked.

"Everything ok." Tellion replied. "Just waiting for you two."

"Well," Linda motioned for her to rise. "let's get going. We don't want to be late for the movie."

"I don't know of movie. What is movie?" Tellion asked.

Ellaine and Linda looked between them, as if trying to figure out the best way to answer her.

"Like a T.V. show." Ellaine answered. "Just a lot longer, and bigger."

"Oh." Tellion said. "What kind?"

"Well," Linda said, taking her hands. "we thought we would take you to something that you used to like. Of course we don't expect you to remember anything. But we felt some familiarity might be good for you."

"Familiarity?" Tellion asked, not really knowing the word.

Ellaine lightly hit her arm. "Yeah, one of those stupid space movies you used to like."

"Ok." Tellion said. "I guess I can like space movies."

They didn't say anything else as they left the food consumption area and returned to the vehicle they had traveled there in. Once there, they placed all the garments they had purchased and headed over to the place Linda and Ellaine referred to as the 'movie theatre'. Tellion didn't care very much for the place. Standing in the lines outside the building just to enter it reminded her very much of the infestation and demarcation piers back at the Yeerk Pool. Tellion couldn't help herself from nervously fidgeting as she stood in line. Whether they were oblivious to her actions, or simply chose to not say anything, Linda and Ellaine made no attempt to question Tellion's actions. Once the necessary payment for the privilege of viewing the movie had been done, the three of them entered the theatre.

There, Tellion was again treated to a staple of the unique human culture, buttered popcorn. It wasn't the same as the kind of morsels she had tried a few days ago back at home. These were more covered in liquid, and far more delicious. She had eaten almost half of the container that Linda had purchased before they had even taken their seats in the large viewing complex. Tellion sat quietly in her seat as the massive dark screen illuminated and began playing the movie. She watched in silence as events played out across the gigantic viewing screen. In the truth of everything, she had no idea what it was that she was watching. Nothing made any sense to her, and the story was clearly some sort of concoction devised by human minds of what space travel and futuristic technology would be like for their kind. Oh they were so clueless about what lay beyond their own solar system. The only thing that she witness that had even a vague sense of familiarity to her was one of the creatures she was watching looked oddly a bit like a female Ongachic. Other than that, she didn't understand much of what she was viewing.

Until there came a portion of the entertainment section that depicted a horrific battle in the merciless void of space. Tellion never could understand why, but watching those fictitious ships engaging in combat with each other and being blasted apart in front of her eyes…it caused her memories to be drawn back to when she had witnessed the battle for this world between the Empire and the Andalite forces that had come to stop their designs. Tellion thought of all those terrified Andalite, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxon piolets. All fighting against each other, all being burned to away in almost instantaneous death from both Dracon and Shredder beams, or having the hulls of their ships blasted open and being sucked out into the horrific void of endless space to have their frail bodies implode from the crushing vacuum all around them…

So much pain. So much suffering. So much death.

It made Tellion feel her stomach twist with an unsteadiness. "Bathroom…" she muttered, standing from her seat and rushing to leave the theatre. She rushed into the nearest area designated for female relief and pushed her way into one of the empty stalls. Inside, she hung over one of the waste disposal seats, feeling as if she would regurgitate all of the contents that she had consumed recently. Only through heavy breathing, and total focus concentration, was she able to keep her body's urges at bay. Losing all of the strength in her legs, Tellion collapsed around the toilet and remained there as she continued to fight to hold her unsteady stomach at bay.

She remained in the stall for a while, until a light knocking from the outside drew her attention. "Susan. Honey, are you ok?"

Tellion wiped the small bits of residual spit from the edge of her mouth and exited the stall to face Linda. "I'm ok mom. Just something I ate. I am better now."

She gave Tellion a worried look. "You sure? We can go home."

"No." Tellion said weakly. "We…came to have fun. I don't want to spoil it. I just need a drink."

Linda didn't seem to like her answer, but she reluctantly accepted.

"Alright fine. We'll get you a soda, but I'm taking your temperature if I don't see you improving by the time we get home. You look deathly pale."

Tellion had been around Susan's mother enough now to know when she was not being treated as an adult.

"I am no child mother." she said. "I do not need to be treated like one."

Linda affectionately took a tissue and wiped away some of the perspiration that had accumulated on her face. "You'll always be my child, Susan. No matter how old you get."

They left the bathroom and went to the small area where snacks were available. They were only in line for a few moments before Tellion saw erratic behavior in a nearby line. It was those two young boys she had seen before. The ones from the food court. Marco appeared to be trying to keep control over his cousin Axel/Philip as he kept trying to grab small discarded food morsels scattered across the floor around them.

"Will you stop that Philip!" he hissed. "I told you I was going to buy you a jumbo popcorn. Can't you wait just a minute?"

"Why do you need to 'buy' me food?" Philip questioned, pointing to the floor. "There's more than enough here without having to use you primitive concept of 'currency'."

Tellion and Linda watched them from their line. "Strange boy." Linda remarked. "Handsome for his age though. I'm glad Ellaine isn't out here. She might get a crush on him."

"Crush?" Tellion asked. "Wouldn't that hurt her to be physically smashed?"

"Oh no, honey. That's not what I mean. A crush is…well it has other meanings. It's kind of a complicated thing to explain right now."

"You can explain later." Tellion said, offering Linda an excuse to not keep engaging in a conversation she clearly didn't want to be a part of.

"Thank you honey. Maybe later."

Tellion smiled at her, feeling what she felt a connection should exist between a mother and daughter.

"RRRAAAHHH!"

The scream caught not only her and Linda, but also everyone else in the crowded area by complete surprise. At the front of the counter, a man who had just purchased a small box of popcorn threw the contents into the air and grasped his head.

"Get out!" he cried, nails clawing at his skull. "Get the hell out of my head!"

"Sir…" the girl behind the counter asked with a voice full of fear. "are you alright?"

His answer was to violently smash the front of his skull into the surface of the counter before her several times. One of his hands suddenly spammed with equal ferocity and grasped his face, pushing him back from the counter.

"You fool…" he hissed. "you're going to get us killed! Stop…"

Tellion jumped back when he punched himself full force in the face with his other hand.

"I don't give a damn! Get off my brain! Get the hell out of my skull you damn slug!"

He didn't speak anymore as the hand that had first pushed him away grasped his throat and he began choking himself. Everyone around gasped. Some screamed as he fell to the floor, struggling between trying to strangle himself and punching his face with opposing arms. Others began to push through the crowd to get away from him, adding to the confusion. Only Tellion, and out of the corner of her eye one other individual, didn't jump at what they were witnessing.

She knew. She instantly knew what she was seeing.

The Fugue. A Yeerk was dying. In public, in full view of hundreds of natives. What the hell was going on?

How could a Yeerk, no matter how young or foolish, ever let themselves become cut off from Kandrona Rays to get to this point? She instinctively shuddered at the thought of those final horrific hours of almost never ending pain she herself had endured. It was a suffering she would never wish on even one that she could consider an enemy.

As the controller and his host thrashed about on the floor, drawing even more curious eyes, an individual quickly pushed their way through the gathering crowd. Tellion only was able to glance at them through the mass of bobbing heads, but she was able to identify him as a local enforcement soldier. He rushed in and tackled the writhing controller, forcing the poor being onto his back and placing some kind of metallic restraints on his jerking hands. With a heavy grunt, the enforcement soldier pulled the controller weakly to his feet.

"Got you! You nut job!" he shouted, pulling the controller into a subduing hold. He then looked at all the surrounding curious faces. "Show's over folks. Sorry about the disturbance, everything's under control here."

Hearing his commanding voice of assurance, almost everyone that had been watching readily accepted his order and began to leave. Tellion stood in stunned silence, not daring to believe what she had just witness.

 _How can you all just walk away?_ She thought to herself as she watched the crowd slowly going back to what they were doing. _Don't you realize what just happened? Don't you understand what you just saw?_

Apparently they didn't. Because the incident seemed to be forgotten almost as fast as it began. It was as if the dying Yeerk in front of them had never happened. As Tellion thought about this, she realized something strange.

The enforcement soldier was struggling to drag the weakened controller towards a deserted hallway of the building. Tellion thought that was strange. She looked at the glass doors to the front of the main building. His vehicle was parked out front. So why was he dragging the controller towards the back of the building, away from the vehicle that he should be bringing him to so that he coud take him away?

Drawn by her curiosity, Tellion slipped away from Linda into the moving masses surrounding them. Using her unsavory instincts as a Yeerk for subversive actions, she followed the two at a carful distance, making sure to stay in the shadows and out of clear sight.

Despite the space between them, Tellion could hear their words clearly.

"You idiot!" the soldier hissed, roughly shaking the dying controller. "What the hell were you thinking? Coming to a crowded place like this."

"They said…" he weakly cried. "There was a small pool here. I need Kandrona!"

"You fool." the soldier said. "I told you that was just a rumor. All of our small Yeerk pools are at strategic locations for essential personnel. There's no hidden pools anywhere."

"They said I would go on the next shuttle!" he wailed. "My commander promised me a spot on the next transport to the Pool Ship, but he pushed me back another cycle."

"We're all suffering right now with the loss of the main Kandrona generator." the soldier told him. "You just have to hold on a little longer."

"I can't! You don't know what this is like!" he screamed. "The next shuttle won't come for another eight hours! The pain…it hurts! It hurts so much! I'm dying! I can't control my host anymore. I need Kandrona! I…"

Tellion shuddered at his words. She knew. Perhaps better than any Yeerk on this planet, how much suffering that Yeerk was enduring at the lack of Kandrona sustenance. Some part of her wished that she had brought the Fugue baton with her, but what could she really do? She didn't know if she could ever hope to sneak up on and overtake the obvious enforcement controller with her complete lack of combat training, or if the dying Yeerk would even understand or appreciate why she would try to help him. Nor did Tellion really believe that she could even get him back to her makeshift Yeerk pool in time if she did manage to rescue him.

Knowing his pain, yet feeling so helpless to do anything, all Tellion could really do was watch them from the shadows. The enforcement controller led him towards a secluded area of the movie theatre, where no one was able to see what was about to unfold, except her. Tellion watched with fear as the controller soldier pushed the dying Yeerk towards the exit.

"Come on damn you, move. We need to get you out of here."

"Please…" he pleaded, "I can't do…"

The controller suddenly shook violently, like he had done a short time ago and the food counter.

"Shut the hell up, you filthy worm!" he screamed as the enforcement controller lifted a hand to cover his mouth while the Yeerk's host struggled to free himself. "Just crawl out of my head and die!"

He looked over his shoulder at the other controller and spat liquid from his mouth across his face. "Get off of me you mother…"

The enforcer controller rammed the edge of his elbow into the semi freed host's face, following the blow instantly with another strike to his exposed midsection. Tellion felt her throat tighten as she watched the enforcer controller put the struggling host into a holding maneuver that clearly cut off his ability to breath.

"Get a control over your host!" he growled. "He's your slave, an engine that you control. You are his master! Now show it!"

The host struggled for a few more moments before his actions ceased. Even as he stopped fighting, he also began to cry.

"It hurts so much…" he wheeled. "Just putting my control tendrils back out…they're burning! I can't…Kandrona…please…Kandrona…"

"You know I can't do that." the enforcer controller to him, reaching for the back of his utility belt.

Why was he dying of Kandrona starvation? Tellion thought. With the Yeerk pool right under the city and the main planet based Kandrona generator…

Her face twisted into shock as the realization crossed her mind. The enforcer controller had said the planet based Kandrona generator had been lost. But how and when? Then as if she had been struck by an invisible blow, everything finally became clear to Tellion. The EGS tower, the damage to its top most floor, the entire section of the city closed off to prying curious eyes. The tower had been located in the central part of the city, right above where the underground Yeerk pool was located. Then that meant…the Andalite survivors had found its location and destroyed it.

 _No._ Tellion cried in her mind. _Oh no, what have you Andalites done…_

What they had to do, Tellion realized with harsh bitterness. This was a war, and they needed to strike in any way that they could to hurt her people's forces and slow the invasion down. But the cost…

Tellion realized that even as she was standing there in that frightful little pocket of darkness, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of her kind were slowly and painfully withering away from lack of Kandrona sustenance. A suffering she herself was all too familiar of. And knowing this made Tellion feel immensely ill in her midsection.

Even as she thought of this, the dying Yeerk weakly grasped the hand of the enforcer controller that loomed over him.

"Help me. Please…"

"Of course." he answered, his voice void of any emotion.

"No." she whispered with the fear of her suspicion of what was about to happen. "Don't listen to him."

But he couldn't hear her. Nor could he understand her sympathy for him. She understood. Tellion knew what was about to happen to the dying controller and his helpless slave, but she couldn't do anything to save them. She just remained hidden. And watched.

"I know it hurts." the enforcement controller told him as he pushed the dying controller towards the exit. "But I'm going help you."

"You'll…you'll get me to the next shuttle to the Pool Ship?"

As Tellion watched on with horror, the enforcer controller pulled a hidden device from the back of his utility belt.

"Of course." he answered, pulling out the device.

Tellion felt a spike of fear surge through her. It was a Dracon weapon.

 _No._ She thought to herself. _He's going to kill you. Both of you. Run! Save yourselves._

Before she could say or do anything else, the enforcer controller pointed the Dracon Beam at the dying Yeerk, as well as his helpless host, and fired the weapon. For just one single moment of terror, Tellion was illuminated by the red glow of the instrument of death. The dying controller's whole body was encased in the red glow of oblivion as he was consumed by the haze of the Dracon Beam and slowly vaporized. And then…they were gone. Both the controller, and his human slave.

Tellion pressed her hands over her mouth to stifle the anguished scream that was rolling up from her throat. She felt the heart of her trembling body skip its beat from what she had just watched. She was overcome with a sensation that made her stomach feel as if it was being twisted over itself many times. But above all else, she felt a sense of helplessness, because as much as she told herself she was powerless in that situation, Tellion couldn't help but feel that there was something that she could have, or should have done to save both of them. Yet, the moment passed, and all that remained in that little area of the hallway was the enforcer controller and a faint residue of miniscule bits of ash as the final monument of two lives that had just been extinguished.

Tellion wanted to scream at him. She wanted to hurl whatever was nearby at him in rage. But she didn't move. She didn't even dare to breath, least she give herself away to him. Once again, she did nothing except cower in the darkness. The enforcer controller was oblivious of her presence as he replaced his Dracon beam into the specialized holster to hide it. He lifted some kind of device wrapped around his left wrist and spoke into it.

"Patrol unit 44 here. Renegade found and neutralized. No risk of exposure by local populace. " He paused for a moment. "Understood, proceeding back to my designated post."

The controller took one last, almost questioning, glance down the hallway towards where Tellion was hiding. Tellion didn't move even a micro fraction, she didn't even breathe in that moment, not daring to make even the faintest sound lest she give herself away and perish as well. With that one last look, the controller exited the building, leaving Tellion to her pitiful and no action self. Too terrified to move, too terrified to do anything, Tellion waited in the darkness until she was sure that the controller wouldn't return. As she was about to leave her hiding spot, a small figure stepped out of the shadows from further down the hallway. The movement caused Tellion to remain hidden where she was. Even in the dimness and at the distance he was to her, Tellion could see that the figure was that strange child she had run across earlier. Axel, or maybe Philip?

How long had he been there? What did he see? Had he witnessed everything?

He must have.

Tellion felt herself stunned to see that his youthful face was not just as full of shock or even terror as hers likely was after what he had just witnessed. No, instead his small, yet handsome face was set and hardened, as if he had seen violent death like this before. But that didn't make any sense to her. How could this child, with so few years of existence in this world, have seen enough horrific death to not be traumatized by it? Especially something as bizarre as the execution that had just occurred.

Before she could think any more about it, Philip quietly turned from her and left the hallway, fading back into the masses of surrounding people. When he was gone, it was only then that Tellion dared to leave her hiding spot. She too quietly exited the hallway and returned to the mingling masses, her mind so full of many different thoughts and emotions that she was almost oblivious to everything around her.

"Susan!"

Tellion turned to the sound of Linda's voice. Susan's mother rushed over to her, stopping just in front of her.

"Where did you go? I couldn't find you anywhere after that crazy man…"

"I am sorry mom. I just got lost in the crowd and went down the wrong hall." Tellion said to her in a half lie.

Linda grasped her hand tightly, pulling her back to the theatre that they had come out of. "Well please don't go wandering off like that again honey. You don't know your way around and I don't want you to get lost."

"I won't mom." she said.

As they went back inside, Tellion spotted Philip standing on the other side of the large lobby. He was with four other children his age. She only had to look a little closer to realize that he was with Cassie, Rachel, his supposed cousin Marco, and…

Tellion lost her stride for a moment when she recognized him as that boy from several nights ago in the communication booth. Maybe…he was the Jake that Rachel and Cassie had been talking about.

They were all busy speaking to themselves, mostly all of them addressing Philip about something that she couldn't hear amid all of the commotion of all the people speaking around them. Tellion was pulled back into the theatre by Linda before she could think of anything about that strange group of youths.

How? How did she keep crossing paths with these children? Was it just coincidence of almost cosmic occurrences, or something else? And to what end could those immature humans be to anything, especially anything concerning Tellion and her own current fate?

Tellion took her seat next to Ellaine, who was still consuming popcorn and acting like she hadn't noticed they even left.

"You missed some good parts. What took you so long?"

"There was a crazy person in the lobby making a scene." Linda whispered to her. "The police had to come take him away before he really hurt himself, or someone else."

"Really?" Ellaine asked, sitting up in her seat. "He was hitting himself or what?"

"He hurt himself." Tellion answered, staring ahead at the screen. "A lot."

"No way."

"He was screaming about voices in his head, telling it to get out." Linda said.

"Damn." Ellaine almost pouted. "I wish I had been there to see that."

"No, you don't." Tellion said, still looking ahead. "It was not pleasant."  
"Well, the point is, the police have him and they'll make sure he gets the help he needs." Linda whispered. "I just hope that he'll be ok."

 _He isn't._ Tellion thought, guilt racking all through her frail Yeerk body. _He's dead, and so is his Yeerk oppressor. They're both gone._

And she was still here. Living a life that she didn't deserve to be in. Perpetuating a lie to keep herself living. And what else? Tellion thought with sadness.

The war was still going on. All around her. The Andalite survivors were still battling to hold back the invasion, but not even they could hope to prevail indefinitely against the forces arrayed against them. But the fallout from their battles was still happening. People were dying all around her, even if she could almost never see it happening. Yeerk and their slaves alike. And maybe even some of the Andalite resistance. And what was she doing? Lying, hiding, maybe just hoping that somehow she could remain hidden from it all. It was a glorified way of saying that she was doing nothing. That she was being a coward. But…what could she do? She was just a single, insignificant tech that had only managed to survive because some greater power had willed it. She hadn't done any of it on her own, excluding creating her personal Yeerk Pool.

But could she really stay hidden from this war indefinitely? Tellion realized with a great weight of sadness upon her, she doubted it. Sooner or later, this war was going to come and sweep her up, whether she wanted it to or not.

And…which side would she find herself on eventually? For, or against, her own people? Despite what they were doing, the horrific things that they were perpetuating upon helpless worlds and countless millions of innocent creatures, they were still her people. She could hold no judgement upon them for their actions, because she was equally guilty of their sins. How could she ever dare to think of fighting against her own kind?

Did that…make her actions wrong? Wanting to survive. Wanting just to live a quiet, happy, and peaceful life.

So many questions about the surrounding universe, and herself. And next to no true answers for her were to be found anywhere.

The movie eventually ended and they left. Tellion didn't spot any of the children she seemed to keep crossing paths with. Perhaps that was a good thing, Tellion thought. They had all seemed so peaceful and happy. They deserved to keep that innocence for as long as was possible. Except maybe that Philip. Marco had been right. His cousin was indeed a 'special' human being. She just hoped that he wasn't too traumatized by what he had seen.

Tellion stopped instantly as she exited into the slightly chilled night air and Linda left to go get their vehicle. What he had seen. Tellion's body shivered, but not from the cool air across her body. He had seen…that controller execute the dying Yeerk. And the full realization of that hadn't crossed her mind until just this moment.

 _Oh Tellion you fool._ She thought. _Why didn't you go speak to him? He needs to know the danger he just put himself, and his friends in._

If he were to speak to anyone about what he had witnessed, it wouldn't take too long before imperial spies discovered that he was aware of them. Then that would be the end of either his freedom, or his life. Maybe even for the others.

 _I have to go back._ She thought, turning around as her heart pounded in her chest. _I have to warn him to forget what he just saw. Before it's too late._

But the door had already closed on her. And she couldn't make it open, no matter how hard she struggled to make it. There was some kind of lock on its interior. Tellion grunted as she pulled with all her might to pry it open. But the door refused to budge.

"Suzie, what are you doing?"

Tellion looked over her shoulder at a curious Ellaine. She forced a fake smile at Susan's little sister. "I wanted more buttered popcorn before we leave."

"Well, you can't get back in now. Besides, mom has all the money. You couldn't get any even if you got back inside. Unless maybe you flirted with the casher."

"I don't understand, what is flirt?" Tellion asked innocently.

Ellaine just smiled at her. "Yeah, probably just as good that you don't do that. Mark might get jealous."

"What is jealous?"

"It's when…" Ellaine shook her head. "You know what, just forget I said anything."

"But I can't forget. You just said it." Tellion answered.

Ellaine just chuckled and wrapped her arm around Tellion's. "I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of this new you." she said, leading her away from the theatre.

Tellion glanced regretfully over her shoulder at the building, and the young boy that she had failed to warn.

 _Oh please, Philip, or Axel, whatever your name truly is._ Tellion wished for the strange boy she had only just met. _Don't speak of what you saw to anyone. Please just forget that it ever happened. I don't even know you, but I don't want you to suffer what my people would do to you._

She didn't see him, or any of the others, exit the building before Linda came back with the vehicle and they left. The drive back home was silent and without further event. But the whole time back, all of Tellion's mind was plagued with regret, and guilt. Thoughts of that dying Yeerk, his nearly freed slave, the callus destruction of them both by her own kind…no regard for any life. Not even for their own. The knowledge that the Andalites had destroyed the planet side Kandrona generator, which even now was causing countless of her kind to suffer and die from the agonizing fate that she herself had only just barely escaped. And that boy, who knew what dangers his life had just had placed upon it through no true fault of his own. And his cousin and their friends.

Tellion hated all of this. Suck amid a growing conflict, helpless to do anything for anyone. She couldn't save them, and how could she? She had no idea where they lived or how to even initiate any kind of contact with any of those children. And, much to Tellion's sadness, Callisum had been right about her. She was no warrior, she couldn't really save anyone. She could barely even save herself. Those truths did nothing to ease the heavy weight upon her conscious.

Tellion was so deep in her own personal thoughts that she didn't realize that they had made it home until the vehicle stopped.

"We're here." Linda exclaimed, sounding happier than she really should.

Tellion didn't know what supposed to mean, but she decided to not try and figure out why.

When they went into the house, Tellion found both Mark and Arthur huddled over the dining room table, talking to each other over an assortment of various paper items strewn out across the table's surface. As they entered the house, the two of them looked up in surprise.

"Oh." Mark said, with genuine surprise on his face. "We didn't think you would be back so soon."

"Well," Linda said with a smile. "We didn't want to be out too late."

"You kind of caught us off guard here honey." Arthur said to Linda. "You spoiled the surprise."

"Surprise?" Tellion said, looking first at Mark and Arthur, then at Linda. "What surprise?"

Linda exchanged a glance with Mark and Arthur. She then stepped in between them and looked directly at her. "Honey, your father and Mark thought that being cooped up in this house all the time wasn't good for your health. We're planning on doing a camping trip in the woods this next weekend coming up. We figured that being out in nature and the fresh air will be good for you."

Tellion remembered to shift her head to the side, the way a human would when displaying a non-verbal signal of questioning what was said to them instead of dipping it forward the way a Nahara would. "I don't understand."

Linda just smiled warmly at Tellion and led her over to the table.

"We were going to wait till the morning to show you this, but we might as well just show you now."

Tellion looked at the various paper items displayed out before her. It only took one quick scan of all that was before her to realize that what she was seeing was a primitive topographical positioning charts. So extremely primitive when compared to Global Positioning Satellite systems…but again Tellion had to feign ignorance of such things. She observed the paper positions in relation to where the city that she was residing in was located, and felt her stomach tighten with concern. The distance that they were speaking of seemed quite a bit, even by her estimates. And it would be a very, very long way from her much needed mini-Yeerk pool.

"Uh…" Tellion shifted nervously where she was standing. "how…long will we be gone?"

Mark looked at her curiously. "Just for two days, one overnight in the woods. We don't want to push you too much right now."

Two full days. That would be a very tight space of time for her. Even if she were able to take her essential Kandrona soaking just before this 'trip', it would still leave Tellion with barely over twenty-four hours before…

Tellion did her best to disguise the tremor of fear that rolled through her host body from the family. The pain of the Fugue was still very apparent to her recent memories. And one of the horrific experiences she had endured in her short life. Tellion never, ever wanted to feel that suffering again. It also made her think of the thousands of her kind that were going through that agony at that very moment.

Her thoughts rapidly worked over the situation, trying to create a suitable scenario that was ideal for herself while hiding her true concerns. But she couldn't come up with a single plausible reason to reject this plan made by the family. Not unless she wanted to hurt their feelings and raise their suspicions. Against all of her fears, she was going to have to take this gamble in order to keep the truth hidden from them.

Tellion looked at all of them and forced her lips to curve slightly into a phony smile.

"It is…a nice idea. Change can be good."

Mark walked over to her and gently held her hands in his. "Of course it is. Change is always a good thing. And I think this trip will really help you figure some things out about yourself, and all of us too."

He leaned close and spoke so softly that only she could really hear his words.

"And I think…this trip is going to help you figure out who you really are."

The way he looked at her. The way he spoke. It all made Tellion feel, strange. In both a pleasant, and concerned way. It was almost unnoticeable, but Tellion detected something in the way Mark spoke to her. It was indeed his feelings that were pouring forth from his mouth, but she had an uneasy suspicion that those words hadn't truly come from his thoughts. He spoke to her the way he had in the hospital, when he had told her to never give up when she felt the weight of despair pressing down on her.

The moment passed, and Mark became himself again. Whatever it was that had caused him to speak to her the way he did, he just casually brushed it aside and kissed her forehead. Tellion shuddered from that experience, wishing more now than ever that it had been her lips he had done that to.

But Susan…

Tellion forced her smile to grow wider at him even as she backed away from Mark. She needed to continue keeping her distance from him as much as possible without making him feel as if she were rejecting his affections. As much as she felt herself drawn to Mark, her guilt of not wanting to steal something that rightfully belonged to Susan was stronger, and it kept Tellion from bringing herself closer to him.

Their interaction was quickly overcome by the interactions of the rest of the family, and they both went back to doing normal things for the rest of the night. They ate, watched TV, made plans for Arthur to come back tomorrow just to keep her company while they went to work and school. It was the normal routine for all of them. Until the rest of the family finally left, leaving Tellion alone in the home with Mark. The silence after they were gone was very noticeable to anyone with half an observant mind, especially a Yeerk.

Mark set about cleaning a few things up and making arrangements for going to his job tomorrow. Tellion silently helped him with those tasks. Neither said anything for quite a while, mostly on Tellion's part because she just didn't know what to say to him. After what she felt like the stillness around them was becoming noticeably unpleasant, Mark finally spoke.

"Are you ok?"

"About what?" she answered his question with her own question.

Mark organized a stack of papers before placing them on a nearby side table. "You just…didn't seem as excited as I thought you would about going away for a while."

"I…" Tellion tried to find the right words to say what she was feeling, but also to keep her secret hidden from him. "It is just…this home. The city. It is all I really know. The woods, away from here, it is a big change from everything. I think I am a little…a little…"

"Scared?" he said.

"Yes." Tellion answered in a half truth. "Everything is still so new to me. It is wonderful, but frightening too."

"I know…" Mark hung his head low, as if he were ashamed of something. But Tellion could never imagine what it was. "Sometimes, I just forget that it's not the same. I feel like I treat you like a child sometimes."

"I am not a child." Tellion said to him. "But I am not…"

 _Shut up!_ Tellion screamed mentally to herself.

She forced herself to stop talking. Because in that moment, Tellion knew that she had almost blurted out to Mark that she wasn't Susan.

 _Dammit!_ She screamed internally in her innermost thoughts.

Why did he do this to her? How did he keep making her thoughts stumble and lose focus all the time whenever she thought too much about him? She didn't have time to dwell on those concerns, because Mark's arms around her smaller body made Tellion lose all momentary thought processes.

"I'm trying honey. I really am." he whispered to her. "I don't want to make you feel like you're a child. But I can't keep holding your hand forever. I have to push you, sometimes even if it's hard. Because I want you to get better. I just want us to be…something like we were before."

"Why are you always so kind to me? So patient with, everything I do, and don't do?" Tellion asked, her question just as much directed to herself as it was to him.

"I have to. I'm your husband."

 _And I am not your wife._ Tellion thought with a sting of bitterness. _But I have tried so very hard to find her, to bring her back to you. When I finally do…I hope you both can believe me that my intentions were always good._

"I want to go to bed." she said without looking at him. "I was a very long night, and I am tired."

That was also a half truth. Physically, she was fine. Mentally, emotionally…Tellion was just drained.

"Do you want me to…" Mark started to ask.

"No. I want to be alone tonight." she said. "Please, understand."

She pulled away from him, almost completely out of fear that she didn't know what she would do if she remained in his arms the way she was. As she took a step back, Mark gave her a questioning look.

"Is everything alright Susan?" he asked, his voice full of his blissful ignorant innocence of what was really happing in the world around him. "I thought you would be happier about going out with the girls and this surprise trip.

 _No. Everything is not alright._ Tellion said to herself, her voice growing more frustrated with each passing moment. _I watched two people die tonight. One was one of my kind, the other was one of yours. And I couldn't save them. I didn't even try! I just hid in the shadows like the coward I really am and watched them be murdered. And a young man, a child, saw it all. And I let him walk away because I was too scared to do anything. And now he'll likely die when the Yeerk forces realize he discovered them, maybe even his friends and cousin too. And it is my fault, because I didn't do anything. I never do anything! I just coward and hide and hope everything just passes me by without noticing me. I am useless to everyone!_

"I am happy." Tellion lied. "There was just…a sick man at the theatre. He made a big mess and scared me."

Mark nodded his head. "I know. You're mom told me. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Sometimes life just throws stuff at you, even when you're not expecting it."

"It was…not pleasant. I am very tired now Mark. I just want to sleep. Alone."

She expected him to say or do something in response to show displeasure at her not wanting him near her when she would be able to bring herself to sleep, but again Mark offered nothing but a gentle squeeze of her before releasing her from his grip.

"Well, guest bed it is for me then." he gave her a warm smile. "Just as good too, you move so much in your sleep that I think you're subconsciously trying to beat me up."

Tellion took a step back from him. "I don't move when I sleep."

Mark chuckled. "Really, then I guess next time I'll record you and show you how much you do. It's like you're trying to be a karate master in your sleep."

The idea of him watching her while she slept…I made Tellion feel both worried and happy. Again, such a confusing situation to contemplate.

"Good night." she said quickly before briskly walking up the stairs to the bedroom. She hated to just leave him like that, but the more she interacted with him, the more it made her host body feel so strange. Tellion wished that she knew what all these sensations meant, but above it all, she really didn't want to feel this way towards him out of her sense of betrayal to Susan. And yet, she couldn't help herself either. It was as if Tellion was slowly feeling herself becoming as much of Susan as she was her natural self. She liked it…and hated it equally. She wished that she had some right answer to what she should do about all of it, but unanswerable questions were quickly becoming a normal thing in Tellion's new life.

But more than anything, Tellion just wished that she could find Susan and return her back to her wonderful life. And her precious Mark.

After she shut the door to the bedroom, all thoughts of Mark faded away. She could never fully explain it, but walking through that doorway felt as if she had walked through a barrier of sorts. Tellion instantly felt a deep fatigue overcome her, one that she hadn't been expecting to occur so strongly. She knew that she should have allocated her free time to making plans to ensure Kandrona ray absorption as close to the time they would leave for the trip to the woods as was possible, but her mind was suddenly barely able to make even her feet walk effectively. The weariness was so strangely like the kind she had experienced on her first night of being in this home, and having her very first dream.

Tellion stumbled over to the bed, almost falling down as she made it to the edge. She didn't bother taking her clothes off. She was just too tired for that. Tellion put no more thoughts into anything else as she rested her head gently on the pillow and closed her weary eyes.

It felt like nothing more than a simple blink, but when she opened her eyes again, Tellion's entire body froze.

She wasn't laying on the bed. She wasn't in the house. Or even in the city anymore. She was laying on a patch of damp grass, surrounded by an endless forest encompassing massive trees. Tellion sat abruptly upright. How had she gotten herself into such a place? They weren't supposed to take the trip for almost another week.

"Mark?" she said nervously, weakly climbing to her feet.

Silence was her answer. Tellion looked at the surrounding foliage, and felt her stomach tighten. None of this…felt natural. None of it seemed…native. The trees were so massive, each as wide as the buildings that the humans had created in the heart of the city, all of them stretching up up up almost endlessly into the sky.

"Ellaine. Linda…mom." Tellion called their names out, hoping for just a felting moment that she would hear them respond. "Arthur…dad."

What was this place? How had she gotten here? What…was going on?

As the fear and panic began to set in, Tellion heard Mark's voice echoing through the forest.

 _"And I think…"_

"Mark!" Tellion exclaimed, searching about desperately for him. But he was nowhere to be seen. Yet his voice continued to echo out to her from in the depths of the surrounding foliage.

 _"…this trip will help you figure out who you really are."_

"What are you talking about?!" Tellion screamed. "Where are you Mark? Please, just tell me where you are!"

But he didn't say anything else to her. No, Mark's voice faded away into a place of nothingness that surrounded her. In place of his voice came others. But they were not coming from a location anywhere physically around her. No. These voices were coming from…somewhere else.

 _"…he's gravely injuried!"_ Barked the sharp, harsh voice of what Tellion felt sounded like a Hork-Bajir. _"You have to do something!"_

Another voice rippled out from the empty space around Tellion.

"… _it is too late."_ Whispered the voice of a Gedd speaking in the natural voice of her people. This one sounded old, much older than the voice of the very old Gedd she had first inhabited. It felt almost ancient. _"The wound is too grievous. Nothing can be done for him now…"_

Then she heard it. A voice she had only spoken to once before, yet one that Tellion could never, ever forget.

"… _does it really end with me? Am I truly…the last?"_

It was that voice, Tellion realized with a dreadful shudder that ran through her whole body. The one that had spoken to her during her very first dream. The one that mocked her. That proclaimed she was a complete waste of herself. And which said that she and it were connected somehow. Only the voice wasn't speaking directly to her this time. It was as if it's words were directed at someone, or something else and she was hearing the faint echo of this question rippling across…well she just didn't know from where.

Before she had a chance to even try and speak out to that voice that eerily sounded so much like hers, more echoes came from both everywhere around Tellion and nowhere at the same instant.

"… _you're too late!"_ Chirped the seemingly ancient voiced Gedd to no one that Tellion could see. _"There will be another!"_

" _It is an archaic fable…"_ growled the harsh, merciless voice of a Hork-Bajir Tellion had never known before, nor did she desire to ever hear it again. _"That dies with you!"_

The sound of a Dracon beam firing. The agonizing scream of that ancient Gedd dying.

Then Tellion awoke in her bed in a heavy sweat. She tried to cry out, but her voice refused to leave her trembling mouth. Her body shook all over with fright, and she could do little other than rock herself feebly back and forth. Her mind was a confused mess by what had just happened. She didn't know if any of it had been real, or if her mind was finally collapsing from the weight of all the stress she had been placed under. But two things continued to repeat over and over in her consciousness as she rocked herself rapidly in a vain effort to calm down.

… _you are different from other Yeerks. In ways you couldn't begin to imagine…_

… _maybe this trip will help you figure out who you really are…_


	13. A Friendship Sought Part 1

"Ok, that's the last of it." Mark said, securing a firm knot on the primitive restraints that held the extra gear on top the vehicle. "Ready for your big adventure in the great outdoors?"

Tellion looked at his bright and happy face, the expectations that he was clearly hoping to obtain from this trip, it caused her to fake an equally happy smile. It was a complete façade of her true feelings. She didn't want to be so far away from her personal Yeerk Pool, hoping that the prearranged time schedule would be adhered and she wouldn't have to risk slow and painful death in front of all those whom she had grown to care so much for. But she was committed to this expedition now. She had no choice but to proceed on as if nothing was wrong.

"Ready." she said, trying very hard to sound as happy as Mark was.

Mark chuckled and gave her a quick hug, which sent those oh so comforting waves of warmth throughout her whole body. "Ready to go and make some new memories?"

"New memories. Yes." Tellion told him.

After that was said, they both got into the vehicle and left 'their' home. And now her internal countdown clock began. Fortunately for Tellion, the rest of the family had opted to just meet them at a predesignated location before heading towards their final objective. And Mark had to take a last minute trip to the hospital to make sure his schedule was clear except for an extreme emergency case. With that window of time granted to be alone, Tellion had made sure that she gave herself maximum Kandrona absorption before exiting the pool and cleaning up any traces of its existence. As they left, Tellion estimated that she would have a full fifty-nine hours before she would start to feel the full effects of the Fugue, and sixty-eight before she would perish. With any luck, she would be back home and given another opportunity to feed long before she would start to suffer from even minor Kandrona Ray malnourishment.

As they drove away from the city, Tellion did her best to distract herself from her concerns by staring at the rapidly changing scenery. The human buildings became more sparse and the natural growth became more abundant. Tellion found this transformation very much to her liking. After a lifetime in cold, emotionless metallic corridors accompanied by a dank, dreary subterranean existence, just seeing the bright and magnificent blue sky of this world and its accompanying lush greenish foliage was so very much like a dream to Tellion. One that she wished that she would never wake from.

Onward they traveled, until there was almost nothing of human design to be seen except the occasional tiny building or a refueling station for the vehicle they were traveling in. In the back of her mind, Tellion wondered if it would be possible to convert the vehicle from a fossil based fuel system to a more efficient hydrogen or atomic particle based fusion one. But doing so would create far more problems for her than they would solve, and discretion was her only real protection at the moment. When they came upon some metallic sign that Tellion barely had time to decipher, Mark took them off of the main avenue of travel for human vehicles and onto a smaller road. They traveled down that path for a while before he took yet another turn off and onto an unpaved travel way. Tellion wasn't prepared for the unexpected bouncing and rumbling of the vehicle over such an uneven road, but she did her best to hide her discomfort from Mark.

On and on they went, until Tellion felt as if she couldn't keep her internal screams suppressed anymore. Just as she was about to release all of her swelling frustrations out in a primal roar of frustration, Mark pulled them into a small clearing where several other vehicles were parked.

"We're here!" he exclaimed, looking over at her.

Tellion forced a smile at him again and squeezed his hand. Mark just squeezed her hand back and exited the vehicle. Tellion followed his example, and was surprised to see Linda, Ellaine, and Arthur nearby their own vehicle. She could see that they were already carrying the kinds of equipment packs that had been shown to her earlier on their backs, and came over to them.

"Ready to get twigs in your perfect hair and ticks on your butt?" Ellaine asked as they neared.

"Twigs, ticks?" Tellion asked nervously.

"Don't you pay her any mind honey." Linda said, gently hitting Ellaine across the back of her head. "You're going to have a good time, I promise."

Walking out into the forest for purely recreational purposes felt rather silly to Tellion. But it was what Mark and the family wanted, so she had to play along. Mark quickly released the secured items on the roof of their vehicle and began to help Tellion strap the gear to her body. She didn't offer any resistance to his efforts. She really liked it when he touched her body. It made her feel so strange…but in a very good way.

Once he had the gear secured to her body, Mark put his own on and made sure their vehicle was locked.

"Alright everyone, ready for a night out in nature?" Arthur boasted.

Linda pointed at something secured to his hip. "Dear, is that really necessary?"

Tellion looked to what Linda was pointing at, and was surprised to see something strapped to Arthur's hip. It looked somewhat like the weapon that Tellion had seen Samier carrying before he left her. A human ballistic weapon. Primative, but no doubt still very deadly.

Arthur patted the weapon. "Honey, we may come across a bear or something."

"But it's a national park, is that even allowed?" she asked him.

"I think they can make an exception for a retired police officer." he said in what Tellion guessed was an assuring voice. "Besides, it's better that we have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

"Ok dad, Mr. big game hunter." Ellaine joked.

Linda clearly didn't approve of Arthur carrying any kind of weapon for what should have been a relaxing situation. But in truth, despite her overwhelming gentle nature, Tellion was grateful that they at least weren't completely helpless. She guessed nothing would ever truly change her aggressive Yeerk nature, no matter how much she wished it wouldn't be a part of her.

Nothing else was said, and nothing else needed to be spoken. At least as far as Tellion understood things. They followed a small trail through the dense foliage. Tellion found that the immense immersion of the natural foliage that surrounded her to be both overwhelming and comforting at the same time. She had never experienced such an abundance of natural life in all of her existence. Sounds from the birds resting in the trees above, as well as the noises made by small unseen creatures in the dense vegetation proved to be a great deal of sensory process for Tellion. But strangely, she found it to be very soothing to her psychological well-being.

To be here, in this place, encompassed by so much natural life, it was an experience that Tellion would never forget. Very soon, her fears of Kandrona starvation and haunting voices echoing in her dreams faded away, and she was just living in the moment. It was exhilarating. When Mark looked back to check on her, Tellion gave him a genuine smile of approval. That seemed to invigorate him as well, and he picked up his pace.

They continued on the winding trail through the forest, stopping every now and then to rest at designated rest areas with wooden planks that had various information etched into them. Despite her continuous marveling at the simplicity of human tech, she still was equally surprised at how they managed to accomplish so much with their ingenuity. Tellion certainly didn't remember her people ever making so much use out of whatever resources they had available. Humans were so strange and amazing at the same time. A growing part of Tellion, one that she was finding harder to ignore as each day passed, felt immense envy for having been born a Yeerk instead of a human.

But there was little time for her to dwell on those thoughts as they kept marching deeper into the woods. By the time the sun had reached its highest peak in the planet's daily rotation, the dense trees parted into a small opening that was nestled amid some very large rocks.

"We're here!" Arthur yelled, a little louder than what should have been necessary.

Tellion didn't bother to ask why he did that, it seemed to make Linda smile. And that was reason enough for her.

The whole group went to the flattest spot in the area and began to unpack. Tellion felt relief all across her back when Mark helped take her pack off. After she had taken a few moments to stretch the stiffness away in her muscles, she went about helping him set up the small traveling shelter that they would be sleeping in called a 'tent'. Mark had shown her the other day in the back yard how to assemble the various metal spikes, cordage, and make the fabricated material stand up. He was genuinely surprised by her ability to help him quickly assemble the tent. Compared to working on the complex intricacies of the Kandrona Ray generators, putting the small structure together was almost as infantile work to her as placing designated shapes into holes in those children shows the family had subjected her to. Their tent was standing firm with its ground anchors before the others had even put half of theirs together. Mark went over to help Arthur and Linda, while Tellion went to where Ellaine was struggling to just get her material in order.

Ellaine looked up at her in frustration as a part she was trying to assemble collapsed on her.

"Dammit!" she cursed. "So much for those girl scout trips!"

"Why would scouting skills be assigned uniquely to your gender?" Tellion asked, not sure why observation and subversion techniques that came with being a scout would be necessary for young human females.

"It's…" Ellain made it clear her thoughts were on how she would answer Tellion's question. "No. Just forget it."

"Alright." Tellion said, knowing full well that she couldn't just forget something that had been said to her moments before. She knelt down to help Elliane, and her little sister made a disapproving grown. Tellion ignored it and continued on.

Ellaine kept her silence as Tellion quickly and skillfully set about helping her set up the tent. Tellion held the last bit of cordage tightly as Ellaine drove the final spike into the soft ground, firmly securing her tent down. When it was finished, she reluctantly looked up at Tellion.

"Thanks for helping Suzie."

Tellion smiled and lightly patted her shoulder. "No problem. Sisters forever, right?"

"Right." Ellaine said.

The rest of the family came over with an odd assortment of equipment that Tellion had never seen before. "Nice work sweetie." Arthur exclaimed, pointing to the two tents she had helped set up. "No one's going to ever say that my girls can't fend for themselves."

"I just did it how Mark showed me." Tellion answered humbly.

"Well," Linda said. "we got done quicker than I thought, so we can go to the river a little earlier. We can take care of getting the rest of the set up later."

"Ok." was the only response Tellion knew to give to her.

With a few warm smiles and a lot of enthusiasm, the whole group grabbed items from their packs and began following one of the trails that had a very sharp descending incline. Tellion didn't really know what to bring, so she just took her portable water container. They went down the winding path, which felt vaguely like a tunnel with the way the branches were stretched out over the path. Tellion made sure that she stayed at the very rear. They only traveled a small distance before the foliage began to become less dense and a completely new sound filled Tellion's ears. Just as she was trying to process what this unknown noise was, the foliage gave way to a small moving body of water. It was similar to the one that she had drove the van into, only smaller. And a lot more natural. There wasn't a single trace of human existence in this place.

Nothing appeared particular distinguishable about this natural flowing watery vein of this geographic region. The water flowed gently, the edges of the ground were filled with the granular material of microscopic rocks and mineral particles that was normally used by her people to make focusing lenses for beams and other energy based engines. There was nothing of any major notice, other than a few occasional rocks that poked above the surface…and a large rocky formation that jutted out along the edge of the waterway a little further down flow from where they had emerged.

"Very pretty spot." Arthur stated, glancing about.

"Yes." Tellion agreed. "Pretty."

Linda put her arm around her, waving about at the surrounding area with her other one. "Now aren't you glad that we talked you into coming her honey?"

"Yes." Tellion answered, doing her best to hide her concern in the back of her voice.

She did enjoy this experience. This place was far more soothing to her spirit than she ever could have dared to dream it would be. Tellion just wished that she could have enjoyed it without the fear of possible Kandrona starvation lingering over her.

Mark and Arthur grinned at the two of them. "Well, you girls go ahead and enjoy yourselves." Mark said, pointing to the two strangely designed poles they were carrying. "Art and I are going to see if we can catch a few bass or trout. Fresh fish for dinner is a lot more appealing than canned tuna and crackers.

"Good luck." Tellion told them, still not really sure what they were going to do.

Linda sat down on a nearby large rock and pulled small partchement filled binder and few archaic human writing tools called 'pencils'. Ellaine just folded her arms and shook her head. She pulled an unknown human device from her own pack and displayed it to Linda. Tellion remember Ellaine showing it to her before. It was a device called a 'camera' that took images of whatever the user desired. The Empire had similar devices, but they were meant primarily for espionage and counter surveillance.

"Mom, you know you could just take a picture. It's a lot quicker."

Linda gave her a disapproving look. "A picture doesn't have the soul that a hand drawn sketch does. You girls don't have to stand around waiting for me. I'll be here a while."

Ellaine made a grumbling noise as she looked around, she finally pointed to the large stone structure nearby. "Want to go waste time over there?"

"Sure." Tellion answered.

As they headed off, Linda called out to them. "Watch out for rattle snakes, this is the season for them."

"What is a rattlesnake?" Tellion asked, her curiosity triggered.

Ellaine gave her a nervous look. "It's a…reptile with no arms or legs. They're dangerous."

"Why?"

"They have a venom they put in you if they bite you. It can kill you."

"Being killed doesn't sound pleasant at all." Tellion said. "What do they look like?"

"You'll hear them long before you see them, they blend in really well with the forest." Ellaine answered, a faint shudder running through her body. "Trust me, I know. But they'll make a sound if you get too close to them."

"What kind of noise do they make?"

"Trust me Suzie, you'll know it when you hear it. Just remember if you do, turn around and walk the other way. They don't want to bother you anymore than you want to bother them."

"Ok."

They got to the top of the rocky formation before Tellion realized it. As they got close to the edge of the formation, Tellion saw that it hovered over the flowing body of water. She cautiously peered over the side. Maybe a ten to fifteen meter drop. Not significant, but certainly still quite a fall.

"Nice sight, huh?" Ellaine asked as she scanned the surrounding landscape with her camera and snapped several pictures.

"Yes," Tellion answered as she scanned at what appeared to be a sea of trees that stretched as far as her eyesight allowed, "a very nice sight."

"Hey look at that." Ellaine said, pointing her camera skyward.

Tellion lifted her vision, and saw a single large bird gliding across the sky. It was a fair distance from them, but by her calculations of its size and optical space that was between them, Tellion guessed it was far larger than any other bird species she had yet to encounter.

"They usually don't fly this low." Ellaine said, adjusting her camera lens. "He must be looking for some fish himself. Let's see, I think I remember from my bird spotting classes in scouts…that's a Northern Harrier. Yeah, I'm sure of it. You can tell by its grey and white coloration, plus the black tips on the wings."

Tellion eyed it closer, noticing its coloration. It did indeed have the markings that Ellaine said it did. But it was harder for her to see without the aid of the camera. And something else. Something that seemed strange for a native creature. It was following the river yes, but its head was constantly scanning the surrounding area. She thought that odd. If it was searching for fish the way Ellaine said it should, then its attention should have been focused on the water directly below it. Then something even stranger happened. It looked down at them, especially Ellaine observing the bird with her camera and taking a few pictures of it.

Then the bird, the Harrier as it was called by Ellaine, tilted its body sharply and turned, flapping its wings to gain altitude and flying away from them. It felt odd to Tellion seeing such an action, it was almost as if, that the bird had recognized that Ellaine had spotted the creature and didn't want them watching it. She looked at Ellaine, who gave her an equally confused look.

"Ok. That was weird. Never seen a bird do that before."

"Yes." Tellion agreed as she watched the Harrier disappear into the sky. "Very weird."

The strange bird was soon forgotten as they continued to spend time together and observe the absolutely wonderful spectacle of the natural state of this magnificent planet. Even as she revealed in its beauty, Tellion couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of knowing what horrific designs her people had for this unsuspecting world. Should they win, then places like this would vanish. Forever. That made her feel very, very sad.

"Glad you came?" Ellaine asked.

"I am glad." Tellion told her. "I just have a lot I have to think about. Mostly my life and where I belong now."

"You belong with us, your family. And Mark, you doop." Ellaine joked to her.

Tellion smiled. "I am glad to have all of you. It has made all of this easier."

"You know," Ellaine said. "I really wished that you could remember this place."

"Why would I remember this place?" Tellion asked. "We've been here before?"

Ellaine picked up a small rock and tossed it over the edge, watching in silence as it fell into the water below. "Yeah. You and me were here before. When were younger."

"What…happened?" Tellion asked.

Ellaine didn't look at her as she thought of what to say. There was a lot of conflict on her young face. "You taught me to be brave Suzie."

"How?"

Ellaine looked over the edge of the rocky formation. "You and me, we were up here years ago. I was a lot younger, you were only a few years older than I was now. I think."

Ellaine shook her head.

"I was so scared. We were so high up. I was afraid I was going to fall. But you…"

Ellaine just laughed a little and looked at her. "You just jumped over the edge. You didn't even hesitate. I thought you were crazy. I guess I still do."

She looked over the edge again. "I just remember you coming up from the water after that fall, and telling me that everything was fine. You told me to jump too. You said that no matter what happened, you'd be there for me. You wouldn't let anything happen to me. It…gave me the courage to jump too. I don't even remember the fall, I hardly remember being in the water. I just remember that you were there for me when I came up. You kept your promise…"

"I'm sorry Ellaine." Tellion said, unable to hide the sadness in her voice.

She looked at Tellion with surprise. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I'm sorry I don't remember that." Tellion said. "I'll bet it was a good memory. And I think…no, I believe…I would do it again. You're my sister. And I don't know what I can really be to you now, but I promise I'll always be here for you. Whenever you need me."

"Thanks." Ellaine said with a faint smile. "That really means a lot to me Suzie."

"Of course." Tellion said. "Sister forever, right?"

She didn't say anything. That answer appeared satisfactory enough for her, and they finally descended the rocky formation and returned to the others. Linda was finishing up her hand crafted drawing of the water and its surrounding scenery. Tellion found the similarity very good, and surprisingly touching to her spirit in a way she couldn't explain. Linda had been right, the image she created had more meaning to it than a simple captured image from the camera. Mark and Arthur also appeared very happy with themselves, have clearly caught several fish for dinner.

Tellion felt a little sad knowing that they had ended the creatures' lives. But she understood that every living thing existed to prey and be preyed upon by one another. Sacrificing their lives so that they could sustain themselves was an acceptable sadness Tellion was willing to accept. With the sun slowly beginning to dip down towards the far away mountains, they all headed back to their camp.

When they got back, Mark and Arthur set about preparing the fish for dinner. Meanwhile, Tellion helped Linda and Ellaine set up a 'fire pit' and gathering fallen bits of trees to fuel the fire. As the light from the solar system's star finally waned, the family had a healthy fire going and the prepared slices of fish cooking over it. Tellion liked the smell of the slowly roasting creatures, but she also found herself constantly being drawn back to the dancing flames. As she continued to stare at the licking tongues of fire, she felt the memories return to her.

The fire that had swelled up around her and Temrash as they had both fallen into…she feared oblivion. Those whips of fire had lashed out and stung her deeper than any physical pain ever could be inflicted. Then she remembered Temrash's terrified pleas for her to save him, the horror of inevitable death that had snatched him away from her forever etched into her mind, and how those flames had incinerated his very spirit before her bewildered gaze. And the eye that had peered at her through that blaze with a gaze that radiated a darkness she didn't dare to try and understand. It was so terrifying for her.

"Hey." Mark jabbed her shoulder, snapping Tellion out of her daze. "You ok honey?"

"Bad dreams…" she whispered, pointing at the flames.

Mark put his arm around her, squeezing her tightly to his body. "You don't have anything to worry about. I'm here to protect you."

 _And who's going to protect you when some controller finally decides you are an essential host to infest? What could I…ever do to keep that from happening? I stopped Callisium, but that had been dumb luck and…something else. How could I ever hope to do that again?_ Tellion thought to herself with immense concern.

"It's ok to be afraid sweetie."

Tellion looked up from the fire to see Arthur staring straight at her. She was surprised by his words, not just because he had said them. But because he had spoken directly to her. He almost never did that.

"Dad?" she asked, truly curious about his speaking directly to her.

Arthur's eyes lowered, and he stared at the fire. His older face was grimly set and full of a lifetime of memories that he clearly didn't want to remember. He seemed to be clearly struggling internally about bringing those harsh memories into the present.

"Fear isn't something that you should run away from. Sometimes…fear is thing that can help you, if you know how to harness it the right way when the time comes."

"I don't understand." Tellion said to him with genuine cluelessness.

"Arthur," Linda whispered. "you…"

"It's ok." he cut her off, "Susan needs to hear this."

Arthur took a deep breath and stared hard at the dancing flames before him. "I've been afraid more times than I ever care to remember in my life. A lot of them are just silly little things that you run across every day, others…the things I've faced doing my old job…"

Tellion remember something that Linda had said about Arthur's profession before they had embarked on this trip. It was the first time she had ever heard of what he had done with his life since entering Susan's body.

"You were…an enforcement soldier, right father?" Tellion asked.

"Enforcement soldier?" Arthur stared at her curiously.

Tellion remembered what Arthur had called his job back at the assembly area for their vehicles. She quickly corrected herself. "A police officer."

Arthur nodded. "I was…and I faced a lot of fear doing my job every day…"

Tellion watched him closely. The way he stared at the fire, his eyes gazing off into a place that wasn't physically there. It was a look that…sadly to Tellion's understanding…she was very well aware of. It was the look of a killer.

"You…" Tellion said in a question that was barely a whisper. "…have taken the life of another. Haven't you?"

The shudder that ran through Arthur's body was all Tellion needed to see to know the answer, even before he spoke to her.

"Yeah…I've killed someone before…"

His voice trailed off. Tellion saw that way that Ellaine looked concerned over at her father, and the way that Linda rubbed his back in an affectionate way. Mark just stared strangely at him. Tellion felt her…well, she didn't really know what it was…reach out to him and the pain of a past that he was willing to relive. Just for her sake.

"Dad…" Tellion asked, knowing within her that she shouldn't ask the question, but was powerless to stop herself from saying the words. "what was it like? To kill someone?"

"Susan!" Linda shouted at her. "That's not something that you ever ask of your father!"

"It's ok." he said to Linda, gently grasping her hand. His old eyes bore into Tellion, deeper than she ever could have thought was possible of any living being. "Honey, it's a burden that I pray every day Linda, and you, and your sister never have to know of. When…you take someone else's life, no matter the reason…a piece of you dies, and it never comes back. It's gone forever."

"Even if you're justified in doing so?" Tellion asked. "To save your own life?"

"Killing someone is not something that you can just justify. No matter how or why you do it."

Tellion watched Arthur, the clear deep pain that she had unknowingly brought upon him making her feel immensely guilty. Yet, she couldn't help the curiosity that burned within her. The need to know why…why he chose to carry on doing his duty despite the pain that he was forced to endure.

"Then why dad?" Tellion asked, barely able to hold back her tears of sorrow for a human man that wasn't her father, yet she felt so very much like he was now. "Why did you keep on enduring such a burden, even after…such horrible pain?"

Arthur took a deep breath, looking first at the star filled sky before turning his attention back to her. "Because honey, evil exists. And no matter how much we wish or pretend it wasn't there, it is."

"I don't understand." Tellion said.

"A lot of times…" Arthur said in a low voice, his eyes staring with a deep intensity at the fire in front of him. "All that's required for evil to triumph, is for good to do nothing."

He looked first at her, then Ellaine.

"That's why I've tried so hard to teach you girls to know how to not let fear control you if something bad ever does happen. I wanted you both to know how to take that fear and use it to help you."

She really didn't understand the words, the relation that they had to Arthur, herself and Ellaine, or to humanity in general, but something about what Arthur said, the way he spoke those words with such a fanatical conviction, they suck with Tellion. She didn't know how, or why, but some part of her truly felt that those words would have such a deep meaning to her. If not now, then sometime in the future. But also caused something deep within Tellion feel enriched by what Arthur had told her. It caused a filling of a void within her that she didn't know was there. For the first time in her life, Tellion felt truly inspired.

Before Tellion had any more time to dwell on what Arthur had said, Linda jumped to her feet and used a metal utensil to grab the also metal pot that was hovering over the fire.

"Ok, enough of that gloomy lecturing everyone. We're out here to have a good time, not be all down in the dumps. Dinner's ready!" she exclaimed.

When she lifted the lid of the pot, the smell of the cooking fish made Tellion forget about Arthur's words and meaning they had to her for the moment. As she and the rest of the family ate their meal, Tellion dared to let her guard down, and allow herself to just be happy in the present. She liked the fish, she liked the strange stories that they all told each other as the night rolled on, such fanciful tales that they couldn't possibly be true, just like the ones told on the television. Several times, Tellion genuinely laughed with the rest of them. Mark had been right. The joy that she found from this experience was worth the risk that she was taking in coming along. It was just another wonderful set of memories that she was creating to overcome the horrific life she had only just recently escaped from.

And against the lurking worry that festered in the back of her thoughts, Tellion dared to look up at the star filled sky, and chose not to think about the Pool Ship orbiting above in the darkness of space. She dared to believe in a dream. A dream of a life that knew no pain or suffering or fear, a life of peace.

As the fire burned out into glowing red embers, Arthur declared that it was time for bed. He and Linda retired to one tent, Elliane to a second one, and the final one was for her and Mark. Tellion felt a nervous tingle run through her as Mark pulled the flap back and waved for her to enter. This was the closest she would be to him since that night that she had…

The heart of Susan's body began to beat harder and faster again, against her direct control. Her body was shaking, from a fright that didn't make sense to her. Mark wouldn't hurt her in any way, and yet she was afraid to be alone in that tent with him. When he waved for her to enter again, it took such a great amount of courage from Tellion that she almost didn't think she could bring herself to enter. Yet, she somehow found the will to bring herself to go into that small, feeble shelter with Mark. Tellion laid on top of one of the specially designed blankets and pulled it protectively around her as Mark closed the flap to the structure.

There was a small device that illuminated the interior, but it was only enough for her to see shadows of everything. She was sure Mark's visibility was equally bad in the situation, and she was thankful for that. As he turned to her, Tellion rolled onto her back away from him.

"Are you ok honey?" he asked, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you're cold or…"

"I am fine." Tellion whispered to him.

"Did you have fun today?"

"I did. I am glad I came."

Normally Mark would take his hand off of her after she said something like that. This time he didn't. This time his hand remained resting on her shoulder.

"Honey…what's wrong?" Mark asked, unable to hide the worry in his voice tone. "Something's bothering you. Is it…being in here with me alone?"

"No." Tellion murmured in the softest voice she could manage. "I…like being alone with you."

"Then what is it?"

 _It's because I'm not your wife!_ Tellion screamed internally. _I'm not the woman that you built a life of peace and joy with. I'm a filthy, disgusting extraterrestrial parasitic slug that is wrapped around the brain of the woman you care so much about. I'm just pretending to be her. But the way you make me feel, the way I feel about you…it disturbs me so much because I enjoy it. And that's what upsets me the most, because Susan should be here to feel this way towards you. I'm stealing all of these moments, these feelings, from her. How could you ever understand that? Or care for me if you saw what I really was?_

"I just have a lot on my mind." Tellion told him. "A lot of things that confuse me, but also make me happy."

"Do I…make you happy?" he asked, the fear all too apparent in his voice.

"Yes." Tellion whispered before she had the chance to even reign in her thoughts.

For the briefest moment, Tellion was afraid that something would happen in that tent, hidden away from any other prying eyes in the dark. She wasn't sure if it was something that she should be afraid of, or welcome. Or even what that 'something' would be. But her moment of fear passed when Mark leaned over and gently kissed the side of her head.

"That's all I needed to hear." he said, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Don't be afraid honey. There's no rush for anything. We have the rest of our lives to take each step forward when you're ready. I'm just glad to know that I make you happy."

As Mark turned off the light and laid down next to her in the darkness, he would never know that in that almost endless blackness, Tellion was crying. But were they tears of sadness, or joy, or both? She would never truly know, because as the darkness encased her, the familiar fatigue overcame her and Tellion's thoughts drifted away into that place that no other Yeerk had ever managed to go.

Alive anyway.

She drifted away. Into that plane of emptiness that wasn't emptiness. As she did, Tellion was assaulted by flashes of images she had never experienced in her life, yet each felt as real as if she had lived those moments herself.

She was lying on the ground, closer to it than she had ever imaged her body would allow it. But was not in her human body now. Nor in one that was similar to Tallaxia, or her first Gedd. This body was long, thin, pressed firmly against the dirt. Her vision of the world was not as she had always known it. The images were distorted, in a different spectrum than was capable of the human eyes. She heard the sounds of something approaching. The gentle tromp, tromp, tromp of…whatever they were, against the dead leaf coated ground of the forest floor.

She searched her memories of that sound, she had heard it before. Somewhere in a memory that she didn't dare to remember. As the thumping sounds drew closer, Tellion suddenly realized what they were. It was the sound…of an Andalite's hooves prancing across the ground. Just as she realized what they were, a set of an Andlite's blue furred legs came into view.

Now.

There came a loud, sharp sound that Tellion had never heard before. A quick rattling sound that felt impossible to be natural. It was a horrifying noise.

 _What is…_ she heard the shocked, but also dreaded, mental voice cry out.

She sprung. Her entire body propelling through the air with speed equal to that of an Andalite's tail strike. Mouth wide open. A quick, powerful bite into that blue furred leg. An agonizing telepathic scream of pain.

Tellion sat upright abruptly with a loud scream.

She sat for a moment in that bewildered state, her feeble host body shaking from the fright of something that should have been a dream, yet she had experienced it with such clarity that it was as if she had lived it herself. Sweat rolled down her face as she struggled to reign in her frantic breathing. Not knowing what to do with herself, she reached over to make sure she hadn't startled Mark. Her entire body seized up when she saw nothing but an empty sleeping blanket next to her. Confused, Tellion quickly scanned the small confines of the tent.

Mark wasn't there. But all of the gear he had brought inside was. And the opening to the tent was still firmly closed.

"Mark?" Tellion said with a great hesitation.

No answer.

She instinctively swallowed a tightening of her throat as she grasped the zipper at the bottom of the tent opening and pulled it up. The faint light of the coming day filtered through the opening. It was early morning. Gulping faintly, Tellion exited the tent. There was nothing but the empty camp site before her. The fire from the previous night had died away. But also, Mark was nowhere to be seen.

"Mark?" Tellion said louder as she rose to her feet.

Still no answer. He must not have been within hearing distance. Maybe, Tellion dared to hope, just maybe he had gotten up earlier and left her to sleep. Not knowing what to do, Tellion quickly walked over to Arthur and Linda's tent. She didn't want to disturb them, but she needed to see if they knew where Mark would have gone.

"Mom, dad," Tellion said as she pulled the zipper to their tent open. "do you know where Mark…"

The tent was empty as well. All of the things they had taken with them was inside, but there were no traces of either of them. They were gone as well. Now concern was beginning to build inside Tellion.

"Mom! Dad!" she cried out to the surrounding wilderness, with no answer to her growing pleas.

She immediately rushed over to Ellaine's tent, hoping against dwindling hope that at least Susan's little sister was still there. She wasn't inside her tent when Tellion almost ripped it open. But her camera was. The camera that she held in such great possession that she would never leave without it. Now Tellion was bewildered.

"Ellaine!" Tellion screamed at the loudest possible decibel that her lungs would allow. "Where are you?!"

Silence was all that greeted Tellion's desperate cries for her adoptive family. There was no one to hear her. There was nothing around. It was as if the family, her family, had just simply vanished. Feeling the heavy weight of loneness and despair pressing down on her, Tellion dropped to her knees.

"What, what is happening?" she stammered to herself as she fought to keep her fear from overwhelming her. "Where did everyone go?"

No sooner had she asked that of herself than something happened.

It came from across the very tops of the surrounding trees, a great rustling of their thin structures that it bewildered Tellion at what could possibly be causing them to move like that. Just as the overwhelming sounds broke through the line of forest, Tellion jumped to her feet and feebly clenched her hands into fists in an attempt to prepare to defend herself.

But what pushed its way through the foliage was not some kind of terrifying creature. It was nothing more than a powerful gust of air current. Before Tellion had time to even contemplate her fear for such an absurd reason, the wind washed over her, its chilling sting biting at all of her exposed skin. It was such a force that it made her instinctively turn her back to its impact. And as she did, she saw the current carry up a clump of dead leaves and dance them about through the air in a way that just didn't feel natural. As Tellion watched in silence, the leaves were carried across the camp grounds, and rolled down the path that led to the small body of water she and the family had visited the prior day. Then, just before the wind died, the leaves were sent tumbling through the air in such a way…that they appeared to form for the briefest moment a human like hand that motioned for her to come hither.

The wind faded, the leaves fell to the earth, and Tellion felt a cold tremor go all through her. What, what had just happened? Had something just beckoned her to go down to the creek? _No,_ Tellion thought, _that was crazy. The natural forces of physics can't create such a thing._

Maybe she really was starting to have her mental capacities crumble under the strain of everything that was happening.

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than another gust of wind rolled up behind Tellion, and hit her with such unexpected force that it felt as if it were a powerful hand pushing her ever so slightly forward. She stumbled towards the path, caught her balance, then without another thought, began walking towards it. Tellion didn't really know what was going on, why she was letting herself be 'led' by something as so seemingly natural as an air current. But something within her, an unexplained curiosity, propelled her on. She felt as if for some reason, she was supposed to travel the path. With hardly another conscious thought, Tellion went down the path towards the creek.

As she walked further and further into the depths of the forest, she felt something happening. At first it was a steady unease of the feeling of being watched. But that quickly transformed into something else. She began to notice that the foliage around her was somehow denser than it had been the previous day, the overhead branches stretched over path in such a thick mass that they created the image to her of a tunnel. A tunnel that hadn't been there the previous day.

 _This isn't right._ She thought to herself.

None of this is right. It wasn't like this the other day. No sooner than that thought had crossed her mind than Tellion heard the sound of the running water of the creek. Only it was different now. Louder, harsher. Not at all like the gentle tranquil sounds from before. She should have stopped then, turned around and went back to the camp to wait for Mark and the others. But she couldn't stop herself now. Tellion had to press on. She didn't know why, only that she felt something compelling her to keep going. So she did. She kept going until the forest path gave way to the opening of the creek.

As she stepped out into the open area, Tellion instantly knew something was wrong with everything. This place where she was standing…was not the same one that she had been at the day before. The terrain was much more elevated, the body of water was much larger with multiple ends of large rocks protruding from its surface everywhere that the current briskly rushed around. Even the ground she was standing on was a massive layer of various rocks as far up and down the banks of the creek that Tellion could see.

She was definitely not in the same place she had been at the prior day.

"What," Tellion said as she looked around at this unfamiliar landscape. "what is this?"

 **Hello…Tellion…**

Tellion jumped at the sound of the voice. The one that had spoken to her multiple times ever since she had escaped the Yeerk Empire. Not the first voice, but the second. The one that spoke to her in her dreams and vaguely at times of great distress to her. Despite its gentle and caring tone, the unexpected voice that came from the space all around her still caused Tellion to jump with fright.

Her startle yelp only elicited a seemingly amused chuckle from the bodiless voice.

 **Oh my precious Tellion, you don't have to be afraid of me. I did not bring you here to bring harm upon you**. The voice cooed to her in its kind reassurance.

"Where am I? How did I get to this place?" she asked, her mind a jumbled mess of complete confusion.

 **It is of no real importance of really where this is or how you got here Tellion.** The voice said to her. **No, the only thing of any real matter is that I summoned you here.**

"You?" Tellion asked. Her thought immediately shifted from herself. "Where is Mark? Where are the others?"

 **Always thinking of others before yourself, which is one of the reasons that I admire you so much Tellion. They are back at the camp.** The voice told her.

"They are not!" Tellion exclaimed. "I just came from there. They were not there!"

 **I assure you that they are there at this very moment, and that they perfectly safe and have no knowledge that you have even left them yet.**

Tellion still couldn't understand why, but her entire body was shaking slightly with faint tremors of concern.

"Why am I here?" Tellion demanded in the bravest voice she could muster, which ironically came out as a feeble squeak.

Again she heard a faint chuckle that reverberated through the surrounding air as naturally as if it were the wind.

 **I only brought you here to finally speak to you Tellion. It has taken me a long time to get myself to a point where we could speak directly. And it took an effort greater than you could probably try to fathom.**

"What do you want from me then, if you're not here to just talk to me?" Tellion demanded, her voice still unable to hide its fear.

 **Why,** the voice said with a slightly amusing laugh, **I don't really want anything from you Tellion. I just want to be your friend.**

"My…friend?"

 **Of course Tellion. And what do friends do for each other?**

"I don't…" Tellion began before being cut off by the voice.

 **Friends give each other gifts. And I…am about to give you a very mighty gift indeed Tellion.**

Despite its assuring tone, Tellion couldn't help but be suspicious of this omnipresent voice that was talking to her. Something deep within the core of her being was warning her. "What kind of gift?"

 **You'll see soon enough.** There was a pause, one which felt as if it were the span of a lifetime to Tellion. **Ah, there it is now.**

"What? Where?"

 **Look to the river Tellion, you'll see the gift I'm offering you.**

She did as the voice had instructed her to. She stared at the rolling water, still unsure of what it was that she was supposed to be looking for. Some part of her should have felt absurd, taking commands from a voice that was speaking from everywhere and nowhere at the same time to her, but Tellion had long since abandoned all rational thoughts since she had found the courage to abandon the Empire at the behest of an equally bodiless voice.

Then she saw it.

It was so small, almost impossible to notice unless one had been directed to specifically look for it. But she had. And Tellion watched in silence as the tiny object was thrashed about across the various small rocks as it was at the mercy of the vicious current. It vanished for a fleeting moment under the rough water, Tellion thought that it had disappeared for good. Then, like a twisted bit of ironic fate, the object popped above the surface of the creek just before her. It rolled across the violent surface, crashing into a small rock at the edge of the creek just before her, just high enough to not be swept away again. Once free of the thrashing water, the small thing weakly pulled itself to the top of the rock and came to a rest. Tellion stared long, and with great bewilderment at what was laying in front of her. She instantly recognized its disgusting greenish-grey skin, its feeble quadruple fins accompanied by a pair of palp antennae, and its squishy frame that had clearly been battered almost to a mushy pulp by the natural current. Tellion knew what it was that she was staring at even before she dared to speak.

"Is…is this…a Yeerk?"

 **It is indeed.** The voice told her. **But not just any Yeerk, Tellion. It is a Yeerk that you know very well. In fact, he is the one Yeerk in all of the galaxy that you would never, ever dare to cross paths with were he not in his present state. I think you are very familiar with him. Come now, you know the name that he is address by. The name that sends the true essence of fear rolling through even your own natural Yeerk body.**

Tellion didn't need to ask who it was that was before her. She already knew from what the voice had said who it was that she was looking at. It was the only Yeerk that she knew of besides Aftran, and the only one that she wished to never meet again, just as the voice had said to her.

"Visser Three…" Tellion whispered.

 **Yyyeeesss.** The voice cooed.

Tellion couldn't understand any of this. How any of this was happening.

"I don't understand." Tellion said. "How is this…possible? How did he, end up like this?"

 **The Andalite survivors.** The voice told her. **One of them is the younger brother of the great War Prince Elfangor. Through a series of ironic circumstances, Elfangor's younger brother was given the secret location of Visser Three's next feeding ground, for just like your human host, Visser Three's Andalite host must consume nutrients as well to survive. This younger brother of Elfangor morphed a local creature that has the ability to poison its target, and using that morph, he attacked Visser Three's host while he was momentarily alone feeding. And like the coward that he truly is, Visser Three chose to abandon his most precious host when he believed that the poison would kill his Andalite slave to save himself. He dropped into this body of water to escape death at the hooves of Elfangor's kin, and now his escape has brought him here to this place. To us.**

Tellion shook her head weakly, still trying to make sense of what she was being told.

 **The Visser has a microscopic transmitter implanted into his body, should he ever have to leave his host while not in a specifically shielded area, it sends a distress signal to his most loyal and trusted officers. Even now, crack response teams are being scrambled at both the Yeerk Pool and the Pool ship to come and rescue him.**

Nothing was said for a moment in the silence that persisted as Tellion stared at the truly meek form of the Yeerk that had inspired such immense fear in her.

 **But of course, this will all be over long before any of them have a chance to get here to rescue him.**

"I don't understand. What do you mean it will be over before then?"

 **Just look at your feet Tellion.**

She did as she was commanded, and felt her entire body freeze. Lying in front of her, just before her feet, was a single, seemingly insignifigant rock about the size of her hand. It was just a creation of the natural forces of the universe. An object shaped and molded by the countless eons of the natural flow of the energy of this planet, and its surrounding universe in general. It was really nothing or any real significance to anyone or anything. Except her, and in this very moment that itself was nothing more than an insignificant drop in the vast ocean of existence of everything. Her body moved as if it were not truly under her control, and Tellion picked up the small rock and held its weight in her hands. It had more weight to it than she expected it to.

"I don't understand." Tellion said as she inspected the simple rock. "What am I supposed to do?"

 **It is your choice Tellion.** The voice told her. **It has always been your choice. Think hard about this moment, why I brought you here to this moment to be before your former commander in his most vulnerable state. To what end could this event possibly lead?**

Tellion only had to think on it for a second before she truly understood everything. She felt her internal body twist tighter than it had ever done since entering Susan. All the muscles in across her small frame tighten to the point where she almost couldn't bring herself to move. Above all else, she felt herself grow short of breath.

"You…you want me…to kill him?" whispered out the question, fearful of the answer she would be given.

 **Why else would I have orchestrated these events, and brought you here Tellion?**

"But…to what end would I accomplish by killing Visser Three?"

 **You would save this world.** The voice whispered to her with such affection, such conviction. She could almost feel as if the presence that the voice belonged to was lurking just behind her. **I showed you the most likely future for this planet. You know what your people's ultimate designs are for this precious sphere, what they will do to it if they prevail. Which you know they ultimately will if the natural course of events are allowed to continue as they are.**

"How…"

 **The Andalite survivors are indeed very brave, and resourceful, and cleaver. They have caused immense damage to the Empire's invasion plans. But even you must know that they are too few in number to stop the invasion. Inevitably, the overwhelming resources your forces possess on this world will prevail against this pitiful rabble. And the Andalite's main forces are battling the Empire all across the galaxy on too many fronts, their forces are spread too thin to even have a hope of coming to save this world any time soon. It will take them years, if they ever can, to attempt to combat the Empire for this planet again. If the course of event in this timeline are allowed to continue as they are, this world will fall.**

"But why me? What can I do?"

 **I choose you Tellion, because you care for this world. You care for the abundance of life it offers to your battered and weary spirit. You care for the people that exist in it. You care deeply for Ellaine, Linda, Arthur, and yes…for Mark. Yes, you feel for him so much deeper than any other being you have ever known in your life. He stirs something in the core of your existence that you neither understand nor can explain, only that you wish to be with him for as long as the universe will still allow you.**

Yes. Tellion thought with great sadness, unable even in this moment to forget Susan. She did feel for Mark in a way that she had never felt for any other living being. She wanted nothing more in all the cosmos that to be by his side, even if it was only as a passenger to Susan and her life.

 **I know very much of those feelings you possess for him Tellion, and they are a very precious thing worth saving. It was as I told you once before Tellion. You have the power to save this world. You have the power to save your adoptive family. You have the power to save your precious Mark. And yes, even save the Andalite survivors.**

She didn't say anything. She didn't know if there was anything that she really could say in that moment. All she could do was stare down at Visser Three. He was resting upon a large rock at the edge of the river, no doubt his frail body battered and ravaged by what the current and thrashing rocks had done to him. In this moment, looking at him, she just couldn't bring herself to see the monstrous and twisted being that had caused so much torment and torture in her life. All she could see was a vulnerable and helpless creature that was at the mercy of anything that would dare to even bring harm upon him. Including her.

 **I sense hesitation in you Tellion.**

"He's…he's helpless…" Tellion murmured, staring at the helpless Yeerk before her.

 **Has that ever stopped him from extinguishing the lives of any of his victims? He has killed throughout the course of his entire life, time and time again he has crushed the existance out of countless victims, Yeerk and non-Yeerk alike, without the slightest trace of hesitation or remorse for his murderous actions. Do you know that, because of his direct command, more than half of your brood brothers and sisters have slowly suffered and died from Kandrona starvation? All because he deemed him expendable. Your kin, parts of the very essence you came from, gone. For no other reason than they were of no use to him.**

Tellion didn't realize she was crying until the tears began to fall from the edges of her cheeks. What she was hearing, it was so painful. Her kin, she had never felt close to any of them. Maybe it was because they had followed the natural order of newborn Yeerks and desired to rise in rank and achieve status, no matter the cost, unlike her. They had never truly spoken or interacted with her, because Tellion had been so very diferrent from them. But now, despite no words having ever been exchanged between her and them, she felt something.

Anger. Rage. A deep sense of personal loss.

Her brothers, her sisters, were killed in the most horrific way that any Yeerk could die. And their murder was right in front of her.

 _You…_ Tellion thought with deep heated venom as she stared at Visser Three. _You never felt anything from their deaths, did you? They meant nothing to you, did they? They were all just expendable trash in your mind._

 **I'm not just giving you the chance to save this world and the people in it that you care about Tellion, I'm giving you the opportunity to avenge both your kin and all of the other lives that Visser Three has crushed with no regard for his dark actions.**

Her arm holding the rock lifted, stretching outward until the shape hoovered over the feeble form of the dreaded Visser Three.

 **Think deeper than your personal loss Tellion.** **You can end the war Tellion.** The voice again tickled the edge of her ear. **All the pain, the suffering, the misery, the unnecessary death. It can all end here, in this very moment. The planet based Kandrona Ray is gone, thousands of your forces have already perished. With Visser Three gone in this critical moment, your people's forces will be plunged into an unfixable disarray. With no true command to lead them, the Andalite survivors will be given a prime opportunity to attack the Yeerk pool and expel the Empire's forces from this world once and for all. This world will truly be saved, and it will all be because of you Tellion. Who knows, they may even have to abandon their current supply of host slaves planet side. That would include Tallaxia. You do remember Tallaxia, don't you?**

"I never forgot her." Tellion said, thinking of the first host to truly open her understanding of a better way of existence despite the agony they had both brought to each other. She did desire for nothing more than for Tallaxia's freedom. And in this moment, Tellion could very well make that most desired dream of her former host a very real reality.

 **You have the power to do all this, if you just have the will to do what must be done. All you have to do now Tellion is just let it go. Just let it go.**

And she wanted to. No one, not this voice, maybe not even she herself, would ever know how badly she wanted to simply drop that rock and let it smash out the life of the most horrific being that Tellion had ever had the displeasure to know. Surely, if any being, anywhere or at any time in the entire galaxy ever deserved to die, it was Visser Three.

Then why wasn't she doing it? Why did she hesitate?

She thought back to that day a lifetime ago. The terrified tech he had brutally sliced apart and then fed to ravenous Taxxons. The fear in his face, forever imprinted in Tellion's memory. The knowledge that Visser Three had not only killed him, but also his helpless human slave with no regard for either of their lives than one would put into smashing an insect. And now here she was, with the opportunity to return the favor to this diabolical fiend.

 _All that's required for evil to triumph, is for good to do nothing._

Tellion remembered those words that Arthur had said. And she wanted to believe that they were relevant to her in this moment. She did believe herself to be good, about as good as any Yeerk ever possibly could be. And surely Visser Three was the physical embodiment of pure evil. His darkness reminded her so very much of that…awful, terrifying eye…

 **I sense there is still some hesitation within you Tellion.** The voice said, sounding almost weary at her inaction. **Very well, as token of our newly sealed friendship once you have accomplished this deed, I will help you rescue Susan.**

Hearing that caused Tellion to jump. "You…you can save Susan?"

 **Of course. I have powers and abilities that you could only dare to dream of. She's lost in a deep void of the consciousness, in a place that no real physical being can travel to. But I can. It's not too late to save her. And you can make that possible. All you have to do Tellion, is finish the task that I've presented to you.**

So…kill Visser Three, to save Susan's life? One life for another. It seemed like a reasonable, even generous trade. And didn't she so desperately want to bring Susan back to her life? Back to her precious Mark? She did.

And she would also be avenging all of the lives that Visser Three had taken without any regard for what he had done. And she would end the war.

Then why did she still hesitate?

She had to save this world, the people she cared about, and Susan. But in order to do that…

Tellion didn't know why, but she just couldn't stop herself from staring at the completely helpless Visser Three, who's life she latterly held in her hands. And whose life she would ultimately be responsible for extinguishing.

 _When you take a life._ Arthur's words echoed through Tellion's mind. _No matter how much you may justify it, a part of you dies, and never, ever comes back. It's gone forever._

 **You're almost out of time Tellion.** The voice's whisper tickled at the edge of her ear. **You can't wait anymore. This is your time. This is your moment to save everything that you care about in your life. Just let it go Tellion.**

Her tears were freely falling from her face as she stared first at the rock, then down at Visser Three. Her hand, her arm, her whole body was trembling as she struggled with the most monumental decision she had ever been given in her young life.

 **Just let it go.**

Her hand released its grip over the heavy rock before Tellion even had the time to make a conscious decision. Gravity took instant effect. It plunged the rock down at its target below.

And the rock struck it with a wet, disgusting splat that sent a splatter of mushy mass everywhere.


End file.
